Maybe this time
by dancer with a soul
Summary: The only thing Leah wanted was to pay her tuition, pay her bills and take care of her life. The last thing she needed was biker drama but when life throws her a few punches she has no choice but to roll with them. Its true what they say no good deed goes unpunished. Rated M because this is a SOA fic with mature content. AU after season 4.
1. Maybe its Time

**a/n I'm a huge SOA fan and a university student who actually dances in order to cover tuition. The other night a group of bikers came into the bar I work in and this idea just popped into my head and wouldn't leave me alone. All characters you recognize do not belong to me and all characters you don't recognize do belong to me and are completely fictional. I have used my experience as a dancer to create more realistic characters but that is all. This is AU after season 4 because sadly I haven't been able to see season 5 yet and my idea when in another direction. So read, enjoy and please review! songs mentioned are Maybe by the Sick Puppies, You're Going Down (acoustic version) by the Sick Puppies an Smooth Criminal By Alien Ant Far**_  
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_Maybe it's time to change_

_And leave it all behind_

_I've never been one to walk alone_

_I've always been scared to try_

Leah let the music wash over her as she moved her body to the slow rock melody on stage. Wrapping her hands around the smooth metal pole she went through the motions of lifting her body upside down and wrapping her torso around the metal. As she spun in a slow upside down circle she glanced around the bar. Five men of various ages sat along side the stage, dollars in front of them, waiting for her to come take them. Lowering herself to the ground she gracefully rolled off the pole and crawled to the nearest man.

"So what's your poison tonight love?" She asked as she wiped the dollars away from him. She planted a seductive smile on her face as she danced in front of him waiting for his answer.

"Well right now it looks like you are." He leered at her.

"I think I can handle that, can you?" She threw over her shoulder as she moved on to the next customer along the tip rail.

"And how about you love, what's your name?" She asked the next man as she swiped his hat off his head before putting it on her own.

"Walter." He replied, fixated on her bare breasts, "Yours doll?"

"Delilah." She responded before flipping his cap back to him in a practiced arch. She continued to dance and visit each tipper on the rail. After her stage set Leah walked over to the bar and plunked herself down in one of the stools kicking her 8in heels off and underneath her.

"Chris!" She called down the bar to the bartender.

"One sec." He yelled back glancing up at her. She nodded and settled in the stool looking around the bar for a bit. Half naked girls littered the small bar, some chatting with other dancers, others with customers. Every now and than a girl would stand up and lead her customer to the back room for a private dance or back to the VIP room.

"Whatcha need?" Chris asked as he got to her.

"Just a juice." She said with a smile. The forty something ex cop crossed the back of the bar where the juice and soda tap sat.

"Here you go." Chris slid a concoction of different juices in front of her. Two straws sticking out of the liquid so her lip stick wouldn't smudge on the glass.

"You're amazing Chris. What would I do with out you?" She asked with a smile, one of her few genuine ones.

"I'm sure you'd get by kid."

"Perhaps, but lets ponder that later. I gotta go take money from idiots fro a bit." Leah slipped back on her shoes and slid off the barstool.

"You go do that Delilah." Chris said as a deep laugh rolled out of his barrel chest.

Plastering a cheerful smile on her face Leah got up and walked over to a group of men sitting at one of the high top tables.

"Come on boys time to blow off a bit of steam." Bobby said as he led the group to the front door of the club.

As they walked into the club they slowly split off, half going to the bar for beers the other half grabbing some of the high top tables clustered near the stage. Right now a worn out girl a decade past her prime twirled in tired circles to some current pop song. The only thing remarkable about her was her poorly done boob job, leaving a jagged scar down her sternum. The sons barely spared her a glance before going about their boisterous behavior. The guns were going well, the cartel hadn't stirred up any new shit and all allies were still allies or well mostly. It was a night to celebrate, to relax a bit. The one strip joint between Charming and Oakland seemed like the perfect spot to go to for a bit, what with the final touches of the remodel being done to the club house that night. Newly patched Filthy Phil and Ratface stayed behind with the new prospects to finish the job. Jax wanted everything ready and finished now that he was taking the presidents seat.

Leah glanced over from the group she was currently chatting with. A table away were a very large group of loud men, all in leather. Leah sighed less than excited, she hoped for a lazy Tuesday, one where she could make her money and go home. She really didn't want to deal with a bunch of idiots. Hell she really didn't want to work tonight in the first place. She turned and glanced over again. The back of their leather vests held patches reading Sons of Anarchy. Fuck, she'd heard the other girls talking about them. Local motorcycle club, loud obnoxious but apparently they tipped well if they liked you. Right now she didn't give a right damn if they tipped the kings ransom, she wasn't in the mood to deal with idiots. Though, she had to admit she hadn't heard anything bad about them. According to the other girls while they didn't treat dancers like princesses or some other bull shit they were at least semi-respectful and could understand the word no.

Turning back to the smaller group she was chatting with she laughed in the right place, touching the arm of the man closest to her. After another five minutes that same man was following her to the couches where they did private dances. Four songs later she was eighty bucks richer. Tucking the twenties in to her bag she glanced at the stage to see Crystal rotating around the pole. No time for a juice break she walked over to the juke box to pick out the music for her next set. Glancing at the clock she figured that if she made another hundred bucks she could go home at midnight.

_Define your meaning of war_

_To me its what we do when we're bored_

_I feel the heat coming off of the black top _

_And it makes me want it more._

_Because I'm hyped up out of control_

_If it's a fight I'm ready to go_

As she did almost every time she went on stage Leah let the music take over her. The acoustic rock song sunk deep in her bones and helped her body to move. She knew she danced differently than most of the other girls. Hell she was white, skinny and muscled. No matter how hard she tried she just couldn't make her ass jiggle. Instead of trying to be something she couldn't be she instead focused on what she did well, turning her dancing into a mixture of the modern ballet and salsa she knew and the gymnast she used to be. Her shoes were once again kicked off and forgotten in a corner of the stage. How the hell any of the other girls danced in those she didn't know. She sure as fuck wouldn't. She couldn't afford a bad hangnail much less a broken ankle with her budget.

As she twirled and rotated her body on the stage she watched the crowd. Mentally placing the customers in to categories. The ones she wanted to try and talk to, the ones she didn't and the regulars. She noticed the group of bikers watching her from the tables. She ignored them for the most part. Right now she was dancing for herself. Something she did every now and than, a way to relieve the stress of the job. She sang the lyrics of the Sick Puppies song to herself as she danced.

As her slow song finished she heard a slow clap from the bikers table. Indulging them she took a little bow toward them while waiting for her second song to start up.

"You seemed a little too dressed right now." One of them called out, a handsome man with short blonde hair and a bit of stubble.

Leah glanced around the empty tip rail, not that she noticed earlier and than down at herself. She still wore her red cocktail dress she preferred to work in. She looked once again at the empty tip rail before looking back at the men.

"No reason to be any less dressed. Free show's don't pay my rent boys." She tossed the comment over her shoulder as the fast beat of Alian Ant Farm's _Smooth Criminal _started to play.

Once again she threw herself into the music. Some nights it was the only way she could get through a stage set or a lap dance, if she focused on the music alone and ignored the stares of the men at the tip rail or the feel of rough jeans beneath her thighs. She didn't mind her job- even liked it half the time, but some nights (or customers) made her hate it a bit. Gripping the pole tightly she started to climb the fifteen feet to the top. Setting herself in to a simple sit she teasingly waved over at the bikers who all were watching her now. With a self assured smirks three of them including the blonde stood up and moved to the tip rail each setting a couple bucks in front of them. Leah smiled at them satisfied her slight teasing worked. Locking her legs tighter she let go with her hands to hang upside down. She made quick work of slipping out of her cocktail dress and tossing it to the side before straightening herself up. Expertly she slid down the pole to fall into the splits on the wood stage floor. Not waiting for the reactions of the watching men she moved right into the music again. The stage set felt good. The three bikers at the tip rail each put enough up to keep her coming back to them and the music played just fast enough for her to work up a thin sheen of sweat.

After the final notes of her last song Leah bent down to retrieve her shoe's, bra, purse and dress. Gathering the bills placed on stage she shoved them into her bag. Soon (hopefully) she'd have to go into the bathroom to organize them, she wouldn't though until that was the only way more would fit. Carefully walking down the stage stairs she sat at the couch placed there to re-dress.

After standing up and adjusting her dress she did her continuous observation of the bar. Who was there, who was spending money, who seemed to need her particular poison that night. Fuck what society said about dancing, it wasn't just getting your ass on stage and shaking it, a lot of it involved reading people and gaining understanding of them. Or at least enough of an understanding to find out what they wanted and if you could be that.

_Might_ _as well try._ She thought to herself as she approached the bikers, all the other customers had dancers glued to their sides. Her bills didn't give a damn how she felt, they needed to be paid.

"And how are you gentlemen doing tonight?" she said as she slid up to the table gracefully in her heels.

The scruffy blonde who called out early gave her a long slow perusal before answering, "We're doing just fine."

Normally Leah would at the very least smile and puff her small breasts out at least a bit at his obvious appreciation but tonight she just wasn't in the mood, fuck she was just going through the motions until midnight came around- she'd be cut from the list and than could get the fuck home. She met his gaze square on; telling him from the start her bullshit tolerance was minimal tonight.

"Well isn't that lovely." She gave him a smirk before turning to the other men with him.

"And you boys?" She asked turning to the rest of the group. She quickly gave each of them a subtle glance remembering what they looked like. To the right of the blonde man sat a giant with long hair and a beard to match. Going around the table a bigger man with long, curly hair sat next to a Latino kid with a Mohawk, lightning bolts tattooed on his head. Mohawk boy sat next to attractive man with twin scars going up each side of his jaw, to the side of Scarface Jr. sat a wiry haired man with wild eyes and the final man sat bald, tattooed and silent. Seven men in total, Leah figured out that her odds couldn't be too horrible right now at making an extra hundred or so before calling it an early night.

"How are all of you gentlemen doing? Out for any special occasion?" She asked, smile still plastered to her face.

"Nothing too special." The mohawked man supplied. His face seemed more open and friendly than the rest.

Leah smiled a real smile back at him. "What's your name love?" She asked.

"Juice." He replied.

"So many dirty jokes, so little time…" She deadpanned quickly. "And the rest of you, what are your names- if a girl may be so bold." She quickly slid in to the script she went through almost every night. Smile here, eye bat there, flip hair now and laugh than- glance sneakily at the clock.

"Chibs." The scarred man said in a Scottish baritone.

"Tig." Tossed out the wire haired man.

"Opie." Said the bearded giant.

"Bobby." The plumper man said.

"Jax." Said the handsome smirk.

"Happy." The tattooed bald man rasped out.

Leah looked at the man who introduced himself as Happy. "So much irony right there it isn't even funny." She said looking at him.

Happy was intrigued. Not many bitches would say something so blunt to him. Hell most bitches at the club house didn't talk to him period unless it was wrapping their lips around his dick. This bitch here wasn't even pushing up on them yet, sure she just came over but she wasn't simpering or flattering, she was making god damn conversation.

"What's yours?" He rasped out.

"Delilah." She said with that same damn smile, just a bit to bright to be one hundred percent real. That bothered him for some reason.

"That your real name?" He probed.

"Is Happy yours?" She asked without a pausing a beat.

"It's the one I go by."

"Well, Happy, inside these walls Delilah is what I go by. But if it makes you _happy_ you can call me what ever you want- so long as I get paid while you do so." She said giving him a half smirk that he could respect. Bitch stood her ground.

"And what do you get paid to do Doll?" Tig chimed in, enjoying the show.

"Aside from admiring your endless charm? I just happen to give the best lap dance you've ever had." She turned to Tig with just a hint of playful challenge in her voice.

"If I wanted more?" He pressed. The rest of the brothers just stood amused as they watched the tiny little thing of a dancer face off with their admittedly kinkiest/most perverted member.

"Try Craigslist?" Delilah said with just a bit too much innocence in her voice to be believed. After a beat the rest of the brothers burst out laughing as Tig just stared at the girl. Even Happy managed to crack a smile while Jax full out guffawed.

The girl looked around satisfied and gave the room a quick sweep when a quick grimace flashed across her face before that damn fake smile was plastered back into place. Happy's gaze followed hers and he saw some fat fuck across the bar waving to her.

"Well gentlemen as tantalizing as this conversation is I'm afraid my attention is being demanded. I'll swing back over in a bit." She paused a bit before turning to walk over to the fat fucker at the bar.

Leah really didn't want to talk to Jimmy. But he was a regular and a for sure for the one hundred she wanted to make. You really can't say no to that kind of money. And he really wasn't that bad, he just had the annoying habit of asking her out and trying to pinch her ass. After the usual small talk she grabbed his hand to lead him back to the private dance area. As she passed the bikers table she couldn't help but catching Tig's eye and giving him a slow wink. His surprised face followed by his laugh definitely made it worth it. Once she settled Jimmy on the couch and herself on his lap she began to think of Jonny Depp and let herself move to the music.

The usual five songs later and Delilah was able to put her dress on again and she'd be damned if she didn't need a juice. She flagged down Chris for another one.

"So any luck?" Chris asked as he slid her glass to her.

"Three dinner proposals. Four ass pinches. One of these days I'm going to tug that beard of his right off you know." She shook her head a Chris.

"Or you could just have him tossed out for touching you. It is against the rules and all." Chris reminded her.

"Nah, he's good for a minimum one hundred to two hundred bucks a week. You don't just kiss that money good bye. As long as he doesn't push it I'll smile and think of Jonny Depp, or Anne Hathaway." She smiled at Chris. She liked the ex cop, he was a solid guy who watched out for the girls. The two sat and chatted for a bit before the bartender was called away with another customer.

Leah glanced at the clock, 11:30, one more stage set and the bouncer would cut her from the list if she asked if she ducked outside for the next twenty minutes no one would have time to approach her for another lap dance. Due to the fact her cocktail dress covered everything she didn't have to bother to slip on the robe most of the girls had to wear outside.

Stepping out on to the entrance stoop she took a moment to just close her eyes and breath in the peace and quite. Opening them she saw two of the bikers from earlier.

"Jax and Opie, right?" She asked.

"Good memory." Said Jax.

"Part of my job. Any chance you could bum a stripper a smoke?"

Jax fished out a cigarette from his pack and passed it to her. She held it up expectantly and waited for him to light it. Smiling he took a moment to fish out a lighter and held it up to her.

"Thanks."

"So it looks like you know how to handle yourself." Jax said, a bit curious.

"Part of my job again love. I don't deal well with being pushed around. Call it a character flaw." She quirked her mouth into her usual half smirk.

"Ever do private parties?" The prince asked.

"Depends." She said evenly.

"On what?" spoke up Opie.

"How far in advanced I'm asked, what's expected, the occasion, and who's all there." She said.

"Be bout a few days in advance. Nothing more than dancing on a stage. A few local MC's, planning a charity event." Jax couldn't help but smirk at the last bit. He needed to plan a sit down between black, Mexican and Sons an outsider made it less likely blood would be spilt and might relax the extra muscle to see something pretty dancing.

"Charity run my ass." Leah snorted, "Also not my business what side of the law your on, the law and I don't always see eye to eye either."

"Thought you only danced." Opie said.

"I don't hook or shoot up still leaves a lot of grey area for the law and myself. I suspect you know that grey area?" She smiled up innocently at the huge giant.

"How much do you charge?" Jax asked stearing the conversation back to where he wanted it.

"How long you thinking?" Leah shot back.

"Three hours, possibly more if you wanted to stay for the party, it'd be a Friday night."

Leah did a few quick calculations, she was usually cautious about doing private parties but tuition was due soon and she could use the cushion of extra chash.

"Five hundred for the whole three hours. I bring my own bouncer, armed and she gets one hundred. I wont dance at the after party but for another two hundred my bouncer and I will stay and bar tend the whole night." She shot out her offer expecting them to bargain a bit.

"Done. Gotta number I can reach you at?" Jax asked.

"Yep." Leah pulled out the pre-paid phone she kept for work and looked up at the bike expectantly. They did the whole contact exchange before Leah went in to do her last set and go home.

Opie looked at his president expectantly.

"Think it might help to diffuse the tension when we sit down with Damon Pope. Might help ward off some unwanted blood shed."

Opie shrugged thinking that it wasn't the worst plan he'd ever heard. Either way they'd need all the help they could get. Both men snuffed out their cigarettes and headed back into the club to enjoy the rest of the night.


	2. Changes

**a/n this chapter lays more foundation. Big reminder this is AU after the end of season 4. Let me know what you guys think!**

Leah finally made it home at about one in the morning. She unlocked her door quietly and tossed her keys into the large shell she kept on the table by the door. She loved her little house on the outskirts of Charming. The silence felt around her comforting after seven and a half hours of blaring music at the club. She wandered through the kitchen grabbing a quick glass of water before heading down to her bedroom. Shucking her sweats, tank top and underthings at the foot of her bed she headed straight for her connecting bathroom. She paused to look at herself in the mirror. Her long hair hung half way down her back, naturally dirty blonde she threaded brunette and auburn highlights through the locks. Thank god it was a business expense or she'd never be able to afford to have it done. Her make up looked a little tired. Her bright red lipstick had begun to bleed in to the corners of her mouth and her eyeliner no longer looked crisp and fresh. She grabbed a baby wipe and began to start the process of removing her work face as she called it. Five baby wipes later she was just too tired to bother with a shower right now.

She glanced at the mirror once again. With her makeup gone she barely looked eighteen much less twenty-three. She just managed to stand five foot one in her flat feet, her breasts never matured beyond an A cup and her stomach wasn't completely flat but her waist tucked neatly into her hips and she knew her ass was above average. As far as her face went her eyes were almost to big and set to far apart to be pretty but somehow they worked with her straight small nose and her nicely curved lips. All in all she thought tiredly she could have drawn a worse hand. Walking back into the bedroom she managed to drag her nightgown over her shoulders before collapsing in bed.

Eight blissful hours later the smell of bacon cooking awoke her. Leah stretched her tired and tight muscles enjoying the feel of her vertebra popping back into place. Running her hand through her hair tiredly she wandered down the hall into the kitchen. A six year old sat at the table chatting happily while a middle-aged woman stood at the stove listening intently.

"And than mommy came and saved me." The six year old concluded his story with a dramatic wave of his arms.

"And what did I save you from little prince?" Leah asked as she dropped a kiss on her son's head.

"A dragon." He replied looking up at his mother.

"A dragon!" Leah exclaimed, "Tell me Prince Andrew, did I use a sword?" Andrew shook his head, "A bow?" She guessed again, another headshake, "Well I'm stumped, tell me what did I use?"

"You sang to him! And he fell asleep!" Andrew proclaimed excitedly.

Leah nodded sagely, "That would work now wouldn't it." Her son nodded back at her.

"You didn't have to stay and make breakfast Sandra." Leah turned to the stove.

"You're completely right, I didn't have to I wanted to. Pancakes will be done it a bit. Set the table." Sandra replied not taking her eyes off the stove.

The thirty three year old woman was way up there on Leah's list of blessings. Not only was Sandra her landlady but she was now also her friend. Sandra owned two lots, Leah's house and Sandra's own place right next-door. In exchange for Leah doing all of the yard work plus some upkeep of both houses Sandra gave her the rent for a song. She also stayed in Leah's guest room three to four nights a week when Leah had to work she usually ended up staying for breakfast. When she first moved in Leah asked if Sandra knew any decent local babysitters and Sandra volunteered herself- for free. All though she was still young at thirty-three her husband had been killed in the service before they could start a family- she'd still hadn't quite gotten over that. Unlike most women who worked a eight to four Sandra had no problems with Leah dancing.

"Are you planning on doing it forever?" Sandra had asked one night while the girls drank wine together.

"No, don't get me wrong I enjoy it and I have fun but it's just a stepping stone." Leah replied.

"And do you dance honestly?" Sandra continued.

"Honest and clean." Leah said with a hint of pride in her voice.

"Than fuck society and pass me the bottle." Sandra concluded.

Leah shook herself out of the memory while she reached up to grab the plates, glasses and other utensils needed for breakfast. Not ten minutes later the three were sitting in comfortable silence eating happily.

"Hey San, what do you know about the Sons of Anarchy?" Leah asked after first glancing to make sure Andrew was preoccupied with drawing squiggles in his syrup.

"Not a lot, aside from what's whispered behind the hands of the people too good for themselves. Why?" Sandra asked looking at her friend carefully.

"A few of them came into work last night. Got an offer to possibly do a private party for them. Really good money if it pans out." Leah said evenly. For a moment Sandra wished her friend wasn't so damn stubborn. Sandra knew Leah worried about money and was to damn proud to ask for help. Instead of lecturing Leah-again- she just took a bite before answering.

"You'd bring Mia?" Sandra asked. Mia, or Miranda, was the third member of their group. Sandra met Mia while her husband served. Dishonorably discharged before Don't Ask Don't Tell was repealed the twenty eight year old was still a bit bitter. Now she worked as a bounty hunter, on both sides of the law. She also would act as Leah's bouncer when Leah did private parties.

"Of course. She's coming over later tonight, getting back from Olympia I think it was. How about you?" Leah asked.

"I'll be over after I close up the shop." Sandra said. Even though Sandra could live comfortably off of her husband's benefits she still ran a little cloths shop in Charming. The three made an odd group, a thirty three year old shop owner, a twenty eight year old bounty hunter and a twenty three year old mom/stripper/law student, but it worked for them. It balanced them out.

"When do classes start?" Sandra asked as she took another bite.

"I start up in about two months, September 7th. I can't believe I've made it to law school." Leah admitted.

"I can. You worked hard. But I gotta run girl. Shops don't open themselves." Sandra said as she shoved the last bit of breakfast and whipping her mouth. "See you tonight."

"So little man what should we do today?" Leah asked turning to her son.

"Go to the park and than play Legos!" Andrew said. Leah took one look at his syrup-covered face before responding.

"Bath first than we'll head to the park."

"Yay!" Andrew yelled while running to the hall bathroom to get his toys ready for bath.

~o0o~

Happy rolled out of his dorm at the clubhouse at around ten the next morning. Just like every other brother he had to put his forty hours in at the garage. With the shit that was likely to rain down on the club soon the day to day work of the shop seemed almost relaxing. Jax had taken over and Hap knew he'd make a good president he just wasn't quite sure how he felt about the obvious tension that still lingered between the Prince and the former King. Hell he didn't much like all the political stuff; all he wanted was what was best for his club. Right now Jax was that. Brains before bullets. He'd deal out the bullets when needed but the club as a whole needed brains at its head. Fuck if anyone could get them out of this Damon Pope mess it would be Jax, not to mention this cartel shit.

"Hey Hap." Juice called over, "What you need for lunch."

"Usual." Happy called back, his eyes on the younger man. Happy didn't know but he suspected something was up with the younger man. The ADD kid had been even jitterier if that was even possible. Hap didn't think Juice had done anything damning, yet. He made a mental note to keep a closer eye on the kid. Hap liked the kid, eager and a bit of a dipshit but he was a good kid, Hap didn't want the kid digging himself into a hole he couldn't get out of. Fuck if he could really do anything else. He wasn't exactly the sit down and spill your heart out kinda guy. He was more of the tell me who tell me when give me the gun type of guy. Besides Chibs was Juice's sponsor that made it Chibs job to talk to him.

The end of the workday found Happy and his brothers perched on a picnic table holding beers in their hands. Jax wandered out of the office and over to the table.

"Church in five." He said to the waiting members, "Tara's making supper and I don't plan on missing it."

"Aw the good doctors finally got the pup house trained." Chibs said putting the new president in a headlock.

"Na, mom's got the kids tonight so we plan on making the most of having the house to ourselves." Jax smiled as he shook his SAA off. "Church in five." He reminded them as he walked away from the brother's good natural ribbing.

The members all filed into the chapel still ribbing each other good naturally. Even though the new regime was only a month old they fell into their new places. Chibs as sergeant at arms, Bobby as VP, Opie as Secretary. There had been some surprise at first when Bobby took the VP spot coming out of jail but it was the right choice. Happy glanced around the table at his brothers, Clay looked old and beaten at the end of the table stripped of his presidents patch. Happy didn't know exactly what happened there but he couldn't be to sad about it. Clay turned into a poison, draining the club slowly. Tig sat next to Clay but still distanced. Tig seemed like a bullet ready to go off.

Jax wrapped the gavel once gaining everyone's attention.

"I've arranged a meeting with Pope." He said captivating everyone's attention even further. "Mayans will be here to witness and make sure neither Pope nor us try anything. This is a sit down to figure shit out, we can't afford another war. We'll destroy ourselves if we try."

"So he's just going to let us talk to him?" Juice spoke up, the intelligence officer almost bouncing in his seat.

"Yep, talk. Sit down between me, Alvarez and Pope. We'll each have someone in there with us. Chibs, you'll be with me. I want this shit done and buried." Jax replied.

"What about the rest of us, what will we be doing? Sitting around with our thumbs up our ass?" Bobby asked.

"Nope, Alvarez and Pope will both be bringing muscle with them. I want this to feel like nothing more than a nice Friday chat. We're going to have the bar up and running for the meeting and I think bringing in some pro's- porn stars and a dancer- to entertain the help so to speak. Keep it more low key." Jax outlined his plan. Most the porn stars were already affiliated with the club in one way or another the only new blood would be the dancer from Lady O's. Normally Jax would be cautious about letting some outsider in but he had a gut feeling about the chick. Instincts were important and something told him not to ignore this one. "Opie, you talk to Lyla see if she can round up some girls. That is if everyone's cool with the idea, or do we need to put it to vote?"

After a moment of silence in which nobody disagreed with the plan. Jax nodded his approval. "Meetings set for Friday. We do this shit right there wont be anymore blood shed. Now get the hell out of here." Jax banged the gavel one final time. Most of the members filed out leaving Bobby, Jax, Chibs and Opie sitting around the table.

"Really think this is going to work Jackie boy?" Chibs asked.

"No, there's going to be blood spilt in the end but I want to make sure it's not ours. We sit down with Pope, we see what he wants and what we can do about it. Maybe lady luck will finally put us on her list." Jax responded rubbing his face. "We can't afford another war." He repeated. "Opie, I know you and Layla haven't worked shit out yet but set it aside. I don't want the crow eaters there until after the meeting. As far as the porn pussy knows it's just a business deal, nothing more."

Opie nodded at Jax, "The dancer? What do we plan on telling her?" Opie still didn't fully trust Jax, not after Piney but he knew his childhood friend was the clubs best bet. What he said still held true though, he wouldn't be VP, he wouldn't turn in to what Jax had become under Clay.

"Same thing as we did Tuesday, just a meeting." Jax said. "I'll give her a call tonight."

~o0o~

Leah barely managed to get Andrew settled down for supper when her work phone rang.

"Hello?" She answered keeping a close eye on her preoccupied son.

"Delilah, this is Jax. Still interested in doing a private party?" Came the smooth voice on the other end.

"When?"

"Friday night. Our clubhouse."

"Do you remember my conditions?"

"Yep, they wont be a problem." Jax replied, "In fact we'll take you up on your bartending offer for the party after the meeting."

"What time does this meeting start?" Leah asked, she still wasn't positive about doing this but with school starting again she need to put Andrew in day care at least part time, seven hundred guarantee was nothing to sneeze at.

"6pm. There'll be a room here you can get ready in."

"Ok. I do a fifteen minute set and than about twenty minutes off stage. That alright with you guys?" She asked.

"That fine, just mingle when your off stage." Jax said.

"Deal, my bouncer and I will be there at about five Friday." Leah answered.

"See you than." Jax hung up the phone satisfied his plan seemed to be going well.

Leah turned back to the table to see that her six year old had gotten board and decided to try and make supper himself. She ran after him before he could destroy her kitchen. In her head she was planning the rest of her week, including Friday night.


	3. Games are a Foot

**a/n yay next chapter up and ready... bit surprised at how quick I'm writing them... well god bless vacations and all that. This is the last setting the stage chapter. I know this is marked as a happy story and it will be. I just needed to set the stage to get it to there. As far as Sons go this chapter is fairly Jax centered as he is prez and all that jazz. Remember Leah only knows some of the Sons right now and 95% of all her interactions have been with Jax. She has no idea whats going on in biker politics. so read review and enjoy :)**

Miranda Brennan walked up the drive to her friend's house. It was convenient having both of her friends living next to each other. The fact that they both had spare bedrooms was even better. Mia didn't stay in one place very well. Before her discharge she moved around with the marines before landing in Cali. After her discharge she just couldn't seem to settle down. Leah called it displacement; Mia didn't really give a fuck. She kept a place in San Francisco- a cheap little hole in the wall she could crash in if need be. Her job mostly kept her on the road living out of cheap motel rooms and even cheaper fast food. She crashed in Charming with the girls regularly. A night or two here or there between jobs to rest up and get some decent food in her. She also acted as bouncer for Leah when the duty called.

She didn't even bother to knock anymore as she walked into Leah's place. She could hear the TV on in the living room with an obnoxiously cheerful cartoon song blaring out of the box. Smiling she made her way toward the noise.

"How's my favorite nephew?" She asked as she entered the room.

"Auntie Mia I'm your only nephew." Andrew replied. "Where'd you go this time?" Andrew knew his Aunt Sandra ran a store because sometimes his mommy took him there and it was boring. He wasn't sure what Aunt Mia did but she traveled a lot and sometimes she helped mommy. His mommy was a student and a waitress. He was ok with that. She was able to spend lots of time with him in the summer and he got to start school this year!

"Oregon baby. Do you know where that is?" Mia asked glancing around for Leah. She wasn't in the living room so Mia assumed she was still getting her things ready.

Andrew shook his head, "Show me." He demanded.

Mia followed the six year old to his bedroom. With light blue walls with racecar boarders and a Buzz Lightyear bed spread the room could have belonged to a thousand young boys. Andrew walked over to the far wall above his bed to where a big map of the United States sat with a bunch of pushpins in various states. Even though Leah and her son had only lived in Charming for a year and change but Mia already counted them as family. She didn't have any blood family, they disowned her the day she came out to them- same day the military processed her dishonorable discharge. Gotta love conditional love.

"Come on Auntie Mia show me." Andrew demanded again.

"I'm coming honey." Mia reached on top of his shelf where a small box of pushpins sat. She pulled one out and kneeled on the bed next to the little boy. "First show me where we are."

The boy pointed to the only blue pushpin on the map. The rest of the pins were green and yellow.

"Good job. This time I went to Oregon. That's a state above California, right here." Mia pushed the pin into the right state.

"What'dcha bring me?"

Mia laughed at the six year old. "This." She said holding out a baseball with the state of Oregon superimposed on the sphere.

"Yay!" Andrew went to one of his shelves and put his gift by all of Auntie Mia's other presents. He was so glad him and Mommy came to live next to Auntie Sandra. He didn't know anyone else in his family so his Aunts were super important to the six year old.

"Where's your mom kid?" Mia asked ruffling his hair.

"She's in her bedroom. Auntie Sandy is coming to babysit me tonight. Are you babysitting tonight to?"

"Not tonight kid, I'm helping out your mom."

Andrew nodded with all the wisdom a six year old could posses. "That's good," he said, "Mommies need help to sometimes."

"Yeah they do kid." Mia had a feeling about this. She just wasn't sure if it was good or bad yet. She knew about the Sons but had never directly worked for them. Her job had her flirting with both sides of the law so she knew a fair bit about most of the big underworld players. The Sons were smart, very smart. They also tended to keep things in house. Still didn't stop the whispers. A few of her contacts that kept her informed of general news said that some big shit was going down between the Sons and Damon Pope. That would be a shit storm and a half when it all went down. But this was a meet and greet tonight. Just a party Leah planned on dancing for. Besides Mia would be damned if she could change Leah's mind on just suspicions.

"Oh good you're here!" Leah said as she came into her son's bedroom.

"Yes I'm here. One of us is good at being on time." Mia teased. "You ready to go?"

"Yep talked to Jax a few times this week. I got all I need. Just waiting for San to get here." Leah replied double-checking her bag. "You going to behave for Aunt Sandy?" She asked Andrew.

"I always do Mommy." Andrew answered.

"Well maybe you could try the same trick with me sometime what do you say little prince." Leah kissed her sons head.

Half an hour later Mia and Leah were loading into Mia's pick up truck and Sandra was listening to Andrew intently as he told her about the Land Before Time movie he watched that day.

~o0o~

Jax paced the clubhouse back and forth nervously. The porn pussy would be there soon and the dancer got there a half hour before. She was back in one of the dorms getting ready. He sent most of the guys out on various errands so they wouldn't see him worked up but they were due back soon. Galindo had come through with getting this sit down and Alvarez would make sure nothing went down- today but no matter what they did Pope would want blood. Sons blood. Jax prayed to the god he was pretty sure he didn't believe in that they could somehow get out of this mess. He knew Pope would want Tig at the least probably more. Hell Jax half wanted to kill Tig himself for getting them into this god damn mess but he wouldn't be Clay. He wouldn't send his bothers off for slaughter. He just wasn't sure he'd have a choice. Not with this current shit storm.

He'd really love to be able to kill Clay. All this shit could be traced back to the former president. But Clay was untouchable, at least right now and it wouldn't do Jax a damn bit of good to dwell on that misfortune right now.

He glanced over to the corner by the stage they had in the clubhouse. It wasn't huge but it had a pole and room for a drunk bitch to do some shit on the floor. On the couch besides the stage a slim and dark woman sat. Jax had been more than a bit surprised when the dancer introduced the woman as her bouncer. Mocha colored skin and hair shaved closed to her head this Mia chick was not what he expected. In all honesty he didn't really care. Better a chick than some huge fuck who would put everybody on edge. Besides the girl looked like she could handle herself even if she hadn't said so much as a word yet. Miranda something he thought the dancer introduced her as.

Deciding to distract himself and satisfy his slight curiosity at the same time Jax walked over to the young woman.

"Some of my guys will be out here to help you out tonight should you need it." He said.

"Two points pretty boy," She replied, "One- your boys are part of the reason I'm here and two what makes you think I'll need it? You plan on having any excitement?" She asked arching an eye brow.

Jax chuckled, obviously the two women were friends and the black girl took her bouncer job seriously. "What'd you say your name was again doll?" He asked curiously, he could get Juice to do a run on her later if he wanted.

Mia looked at him closely. She'd heard about the Sons intel guy, he was supposed to be good but hell he already knew her name. Plus she had no beef with the Sons, never brought one of theirs in.

"Miranda Brennan. Call me Mia." She said.

"Jax Teller."

"Oh, I know who you are pretty boy." Mia replied. So far she liked the guy- seemed levelheaded enough and didn't really try to pull shit. He'd paid both her and Leah up front with the cash- she respected that in a guy.

Jax was relatively surprised by this. "How's a tiny little thing like you become a bouncer?" He asked instead.

"Had a run with the marines that ended less than spectacularly. A former officer with a dishonorable discharge has only so many job opportunities. I ended up becoming a bounty hunter. Met Delilah and started helping her out every now and than." Mia replied, she wasn't giving him anything that wasn't easy to find.

"Bounty hunter huh?" Jax asked a bit intrigued.

"Don't worry pretty boy I'm off the clock tonight.

"We're just a bunch of enthusiasts planning a charity run tonight doll." Jax said with a smirk. If the girl was a bounty hunter she knew more than her fair share about the underworld of society but he wasn't about to give her an inch.

"Uh-ha," Mia smiled knowing the game he was playing, "And my face is as white as your cracker ass pretty boy."

Leah chose that moment to walk out of the room she'd been getting ready in. Her hair which previously been done up in braids now fell down her back in loose waves. It now had that man I've just been fucked looked guys like. She was wearing a dress again- more conservative than some of the crow eaters in all honesty but damn it showed off her ass.

Leah stopped at the appraising look the club president. For a moment her former self consciousness came into play again but she quickly stomped that down and plastered her smile in the center of her face.

"Well what do you think?" She asked the president turning in a slow circle.

Before he answered the door banged open and the rest of the Sons came bursting in the door laughing and joking loudly. Quite a few let out loud wolf whistles at the sight of Leah in her black and red dress. Smiling a real smile this time Leah turned in a circle again. The dress was relatively modest but flattered her figure better than a more skimpy dress would. Her black shiny heels made her legs look a mile high and black leg wraps accented the muscular curves she was proud of. Her high school gymnastics career combined with her horse backing riding left her with a body she was proud of.

"Mind if I warm up a bit?" She asked.

"Honey you can warm me up if you'd like." Shouted out Tig. Leah glanced at the wirehaired man. Here in the well-lit clubhouse she could see clearly what she had suspected the night they came into the club. That man was barely holding shit together.

"Na honey, I still have a few standards left." Leah knew guys like him; they came into the club every night. They wanted things to seem like they were normal, doing fine. So she responded like she normally would. Anything else would destroy his fantasy that everything was fine.

Leah slow walked to the stage letting her hips rolled slowly. A small part of her preened as the feel of eyes on her. She caught Mia rolling her eyes in her direction and barely held back the laugh that bubbled in her throat. The biker- Juice his name was- started to play the CD she'd given them when she arrived. She made a mix of rock all at various tempos for the night. Mostly medium speed stuff with some slower and faster shit mixed in to keep shit interesting and make sure she didn't get to tired.

As she started dancing she heard Jax yell "Church." Behind her but she blocked him out-mostly focusing on not falling in her heels. Leah fucking hated dancing pole tricks in those things. She wasn't wearing ridiculously tall ones and there was no chance in hell that she would set foot anywhere in this place without shoes besides they were paying- had paid her- seven hundred for being there that night. For the night she'd play the part. After three songs she was confident that she wouldn't embarrass herself or break her ankle that night. She climbed off the stage and went to sit at the bar until the people showed up. A young man with a vest reading prospect on the patch stood behind the bar.

"Can I get you something?" He asked.

"No chance in hell you have juice?" Leah asked as Mia slid on to the stool next to her.

"Ummm… no not really." The man admitted, "Bobby made coffee though."

"Whose Bobby again?" Leah asked.

"Guy with long wavy hair and a beard."

"Thanks, yeah I'll take coffee." She said. "What's your name?"

"Marcus."

"Gotta nickname Marcus?" Leah asked. Mia glanced up at her as she nursed her beer.

"Well my dad called me ijit while growing up." Marcus said with a smile.

"Well I hope that's not applicable anymore. Got a middle name?" Leah asked her smile firmly in place.

"Allen." He answered.

"I like that quite a bit better. I'll have a second coffee. Are you bartending the meeting?"

"Yes I am." Marcus smiled.

"Well Al my friend if I come up to the bar to take a shot or something with anyone make sure I get a water shot please." Leah said.

"What?" Marcus asked.

"I don't like to mix work and pleasure and between me and you I don't really know what to expect tonight." Leah leaned forward purposefully distracting him with her small cleavage. Mia rolled her eyes again. Men were so damn easy.

"Alright I guess." Marcus shrugged.

Fifteen minutes later Leah was up on stage dancing as men filed into the clubhouse. First arriving was a Mexican biker group. Leah twirled gracefully as the man who seemed to be in charge of the Latino men embraced Jax. She counted ten men with the new guy. The one who hugged Jax was older. Mid fifties she guessed, with long black hair in a ponytail. From the stage Leah could see the grey threaded through the black. But in all honesty it wasn't her business she was only paid to do so much and asking questions wasn't it. Bikers and women wandered around the room, some watching her dance. Jax had told her porn pussy would be there. She didn't judge- hell Leah was making her own way to.

She just climbed off stage to wander back to the bar. Mia sat in her station over by the stage. Mia would stay there until Leah was done dancing for the night. Than they'd both switch over to bar tend. Leah still wasn't sure exactly what her role there was yet. If the Sons just needed entertainment they had the porn stars for that. Sure there was only about six girls plus her and twenty or so guys but she couldn't help feel that she seemed a bit out of place. But she would do what she was being paid to do, flirt, dance and look nice and what she wasn't being paid to do. Listen and watch everything.

"And where did Jax ever find _una bella_ like you?" One of the Latino men sliding up to her at the bar.

"Oh you know the old story. Boy meets stripper, stripper seduces him and books a private gig for his fun shindig. Happens all the time." She flirted.

"Maybe I need to get a copy of that book _carina._"

"Well first step is you tell me your name." Leah laid her hand on his arm.

"Antonio, _tu_?"

"Delilah. So Tonio, maybe you can help me out. This is my first private gig. Care to give a dancer a quick name run down so she doesn't make a fool of herself?" Leah ran through the motions of getting the information she wanted.

"Well I can only tell you the Mayan men. But that man over there is Alvarez" He said pointing to the man Leah had seen embrace Jax. Having the information she wanted began to tune him out.

"Oh crap. I have to get back on stage again. Visit me on my next break off." She smiled gracefully removing herself from the conversation. She headed back on stage to start her next set.

Leah noticed the minute the last group walked in. The men became more aware and the porn stars flirted to the edges of the room. She was back on stage and really didn't know what else to do other than keep dancing. A tallish black man in a suit that most likely cost more than what she made in a year plus the tuition she paid. Roughly fifteen men stood behind him some wearing street cloths and others wearing suits. Jax walked up to the first man- the one in charge and shook his hand before nodding to the back room.

The black man pulled Jax closer looking angry for a moment. Leah couldn't hear what was said from stage but she saw Jax reassure the other man before Jax, the black man, the Latino Alvarez and one of each of their men. Charity run meeting her ass. She should have charged more for this shit.


	4. Shit Meet Fan

**a/n wow this chapter was harder to write than i thought it would be. I knew exactly what I wanted to happen but the how kept eluding me. A huge shout out to all those who have reviewed you have no idea how much that means to me. Special shout out to the guest reviews who I was unable to thank personally. There is a bit of Spanish in this chapter and I am not a native Spanish speaker, any errors are 100% mine and the translation is at the bottom of the page. So enjoy, read and review!**

"Thought this was a friendly sit down boys." Pope said as the six men settled themselves in the Chapel, "What are they doing here." He nodded at Alvarez and his VP.

"This is still a friendly sit down. They're here to make sure it stays that way." Jax replied, Chibs sitting on his left. "We need to talk."

"Yes we do. You have powerful friends Jackson Teller. Something tells me that your Mexican compatriots have the same friend. The Galindo Cartel." Pope sneered.

"You don't seem to lack in friends yourself." Jax replied. A gun shipment of the Sons had been hijacked earlier that month. Black faces set fire to the truck burning up half their inventory. Irish were pissed and chomping at the bit, Galen even more insistent that he would only deal with Clay. Jax wanted this feud with Pope and the Niners done with.

"I don't."

"What do you want Pope? How do we make this shit right?"

"That's the thing Teller. I'm not sure we can." Pope folded his hands in front of him. "You run guns, mule for the Cartel. You're smart Teller to smart,"

"For a white trash biker?" Jax cut in sarcastically.

"No, to smart to kill. Unfortunately." Pope said while examining Jax.

"What do you want Pope."

"I don't _want _anything. Nothing you can give me in the least. But there is something I can take. I want revenge Mr. Teller. I thought at first I lost my daughter. Mr. Tragger should loose his, but they seem to have taken sudden vacations lately with out telling anyone where they were going."

"We guessed you might feel that way. No matter Tig's mistakes his daughters don't deserve the punishment. They are innocent."

"My daughter paid the price didn't she? She was innocent wasn't she?" Pope demanded.

"She did and she was and I'm very sorry but there has to be a way we can end this with out more blood shed. We don't want a war."

"Boy, you might just already be in one." Damon Pope leaned forward. "You said I had friends and I do. I also have witnesses. Two who say you and a few of your men killed a state trooper and another man. Two more who say they saw Mr. Tragger murder my daughter. They can come forward at any time. The minute I say so in fact." He paused watching the effect he had on Jax. "Now that all the cards are on the table, as they say, let's talk."

~o0o~

Happy sat at the bar gazing around, watching. He sipped a beer casually or seemed to sip it. Happy long ago mastered the art of appearing to drink while not taking more than a casual sip every now and than. Despite what the action movies showed it was easier to watch and kill a target sober than intoxicated. Mexican and Sons mingled and chatted while Black stood off to the corners and on the sides. Porn pussy wandered around, draping themselves on any available and wanting arms and the dancer from the club moved on stage. She was good he'd give her that. He saw her off stage to. She visited every group of men, chatted for a bit before stopping at the bar for a cup of coffee or glass of water before returning to stage. She tried talking to him the first time but he nodded her off. He was curious about her but he wanted to be focused on the people around him. Chibs may be SAA and that suited Happy fine. He didn't want to be an officer he was happy where he was no pun intended. He needed to be able to go nomad if anything happened with his mom and that suited him just fine. But he was still an enforcer; his job was to protect his president and his club. Still if the girl ended up bartending the party after he wouldn't mind trying her in conversation again. Not many bitches acted unafraid around him, not many people in general for that matter.

Happy stopped doing sweeps of the room for a moment to watch the girl on stage. He'd forgotten whatever name she'd given, it wasn't her real name so he couldn't be bothered to care. She moved smoothly on stage to some rock song he recognized as a common one played on Friday nights. He liked that she didn't dance to any of that current pop shit most bitches tried to dance to. Every now and than he saw her glance around a tight expression on her face before that damn fake smile was plastered back on. He doubted hardly anyone else could tell it was fake, it was damn convincing. He didn't blame the bitch for being nervous. There wasn't a single damn person in the fucking clubhouse who wasn't nervous right now. Even the porn pussy could tell some thing was off. Bitch would be stupid if she didn't notice it to. Happy glanced over at the other woman- the dancers bouncer. She was doing the same thing he had been doing a moment before- sweeping the room. The black bitch was good. She held herself in a relaxed looking position but Happy could see she was ready to move into action at a moments notice. She stayed by the stage when the dancer was up dancing and smoothly moved to the bar when the stripper worked the room. He could also see she was carrying. He'd be willing to bet she could use them to. The dancer seemed like a smart bitch- he doubted she'd bring a worthless bouncer.

He watched the dancer climb off the stage. He continued to watch her as he scanned the room again. Now much easier to do now that she moved around the room herself. She stopped at each group of men, some she just said hello to before they waved her on, others she sat with for a time. Two of Alvarez's men seemed to take particular interest in her and demanded her attention longer than others. She sat between them on one of the couches. One of them stuck his hand on her thigh running it up and down her leg. He saw her smile tighten for a moment before he saw her visibly force her face to relax. He glanced around the room before his gaze snapped back to the dancer on the couch. The entire night she didn't let one man touch her he noticed that earlier. The men had tried- Son, Mayan, Niner, at one point someone from each club had tried to touch her and she simply moved the hand with a smile and a tease. Happy glanced over at her bouncer and noticed the second woman about to move before she relaxed back into her seat watching. Happy turned to look back at the dancer, she was still smiling but now he could see she was listening to whatever the Mexicans where saying intently.

~o0o~

Leah kept going through her motions. Dance a set, make the rounds, grab a drink and head back to stage. Most of the black men waved her off and sat silently to themselves, the two biker clubs mingled together and usually wanted her to chat for a minute if one of the porn girls weren't with them. Antonio and a friend of his wanted her to chat more than the others. By chat she meant he wanted to try and talk her into going home with him sometime, or chat in Spanish above her head. Thank god for her rebellious streak in high school. Her parents hated her dating her Puerto Rican ex, Pedro's mother only spoke Spanish and Leah had always been good with languages. She managed to learn Spanish mostly fluently in the two years she dated Pedro.

She even preferred it when they spoke Spanish above her. Gave her a chance to practice her Spanish albeit in a passive way. Plus as a dancer she'd discovered people said so much more when they thought the person listening couldn't understand them. For the most part she looked around while keeping one ear tuned in to what they were saying. She noticed one of the bikers- the bald one… Happy, the one with the ironic name- keeping an eye on the room as she looked around.

"_Todo esta bien Miguel." _She caught Antonio saying as she turned to tell him to get his hand off of her thigh, "_Nadie aqui sabe. Podemos hacer eso. Solo tememos que esperar un poco mas y Los Mayans son nuestros."_

"_Si, lo se ese. Todos son listos?" _Miguel paused when Leah turned to face them. Before he noticed she had rearranged her annoyed look to a flirty smile flashing to Antonio.

Leah glanced around again once the Latinos attention was turned back to each other. She caught Mia's eye as her friend started to stand and come over. Mia knew Leah's strict no touching rule. Leah shook her head as subtly as possible.

"_Podemos matar todos este noche." _Antonio continued_, "Alvarez nunca debemos trabajar con los gringos. Mira que paso'! Los negros van a hacer algo. No hay otro opciones todavia. Tuvimos que hacer algo y Alvarez hizo nada."_

"_Lo se ese!" _Miguel said sharply_ "Lo se que el tiene que morrir con los otros. Si vamos a hacer eso todos tienen que morrir. Nadie puede vivir o saver que paso o los Lobos van a matarnos."_

"_Si. Pero ellos va a ayudarnos. Van a llegar in caurenta. Todo esta bien."_

Fuck fuck fuck fuck! Leah thought. No chance in hell she charged enough for this shit. These two were planning on killing damn near everyone in the place if not all, ok she had forty minutes- thirty on the safe side. She could do this. Fuck. They mentioned Alvarez- he was the older man who went with Jax into the other room. Jax and the black man plus three others. If Jax was president and Alvarez was to she'd bet her left arm that the black man was someone in charge to. Ok so she had to get in there but how. Aw fuck. She hated the idea that popped into her head but damnit it was the only one she could think of. She turned her head slightly to the bar, the biker- Happy- was still sitting close to Mia at the bar. Good. It would look like she was going to talk to Mia. Ok breathe; smile- she could do this shit.

"Boys I'm sorry but I can't understand a word of what you're saying. I'm going to get a drink. Antonio, we'll talk after my next stage set?" Leah cut in midsentence flashing her smile at them. She could feel her smile was tight around the edges but fortunately Antonio and Miguel were to caught up in their plans to spare her more than a glance and a wave.

Leah carefully walked over to the bar letting her hips roll as she normally would. She casually leaned against the bar jutting her ass out like she normally did at work.

"Al, my friend," She said to the prospect as he walked nearer, "I'm going to need a real shot. Whiskey please." Leah could feel Mia and Happy's eyes on her as she knocked back the whiskey. She closed her eyes and let the strong liquor burn down her throat before she turned to one of her best friends.

"Mia, I need you to return to the house. Wait there until I come home. If I'm not home by midnight go to your place not the one in San Francisco. Some one from here will call. If no one does within a week I have a safety deposit box in the bank with all the relevant documents. The key is behind the photo on my bedroom wall." Leah said quickly and quietly. She knew Happy could hear her but she had to do this first. If all else failed she had to know her son was safe.

Mia looked closely at her friend. Leah's smile was so tight and brittle it was about to burst any moment. Something was going to happen, something Leah couldn't explain to her right now. Before Mia could ask any questions her soldiers training kicked in. She understood what Leah was doing, she was making sure Andrew was safe. Mia nodded at her friend.

"Take this." She pressed a cell phone into Leah's hand, "Its my pre-pay for work. I'll grab yours in the house. Call me the minute you can."

"Thank you so much Mia. Now head to the bathroom. I saw a door back there see if it leads outside. If it doesn't leave during my next stage set or when something happens."

"It goes outside. What's going on?" Happy cut in. Leah nodded to Mia before turning to him.

"I need to get in there." She said nodding toward the Chapel.

"Why?" Happy demanded.

"Because something bad is going to happen and the only people I'm going to talk to are in there. I have to get in there now and in a way that won't be suspicious. We have less than thirty minutes. Please Happy." Leah's voice broke a bit at the last few words but she didn't waste time being embarrassed. Happy looked closely at her and nodded.

"Stay." He said while pulling his prepaid out of his pocket..

~o0o~

Chib's phone started to ring breaking the silence in the room. A nod from

Jax made him dig in his pocket for the phone.

" 's Hap." He said glancing at the number.

Jax looked around at the rest of the men sitting at the table, all of them at one time or another had heard of the Tacoma Killer. "Answer it." He told his SAA.

"Yeah, Hap?" Chibs answered.

"_Give Jax the phone."_

"What's going on Happy?" Jax asked as he took the phone.

"_Not sure yet. The stripper says she needs to get in the chapel. Will only talk to you. Said something's going down. Also said it needs to look normal. Her coming to talk to you."_

"Fuck. Is it real?"

Happy turned to look at the dancer. She was still sitting at the bar in the same position but he could see the knuckle white grip she had on the coffee cup in front of her and the paleness of her face beneath her makeup. The bitch was doing everything she could to not freak out.

"_Its real. She says what ever it is at twenty minutes and counting."_

"Fuck. Ok we'll get her in here. Where is she now?"

"_Sitting at the bar."_

"Good, stay by her." Jax answered as he turned to the rest of the men in the room, "Something's going down. I'm not sure yet but there's one person who can tell us."

"What the hell is this Mr. Teller?" Pope cried angrily.

"Honestly I don't know. Humor me for a minute Pope and we'll find out. Alvarez?" Jax turned to the Mayan President who nodded slowly.

"Ok Hap here's what we're going to do."

~o0o~

Happy snapped his phone shut and returned to the dancer.

"You need to act natural. Go talk to some people. I'm going to come pull you away for a private dance in the chapel. Got it?" Happy asked her.

She nodded slowly. Happy saw her grip the bar top even tighter for a moment before nodding again. He saw her force herself to relax. He had to admire the bitch's control.

"Can you do this girl?" He demanded. He watched her steal herself one more time.

"I have a name. Its not girl, and to you its Delilah- I'd appreciate you using it." She snapped. Happy knew she was acting out on her nerves but he was impressed at how she chose to do it. There was quite a bit about her that impressed him it seemed. She straightened her spine and started to walk away calmly swaying her hips toward Tig and Bobby. He gave her all of two minutes to start to chat before walking over to them.

"Got the call from Prez. The guys want her to do a private show." He said as he walked up to them.

"Well boys it seems my attention is demanded else where. Perhaps I should go earn my pay check hmmm?" She cast her voice out subtly projecting it so anyone near could hear her.

Delilah or whatever she was called followed Happy over to the chapel and through the doors. The minute the doors shut behind her the girl's legs began to give out. Jax managed to grab her just in time and lead her a chair.

"What's going on?" He asked her calmly.

"I don't know, not entirely. I over heard two of Alvarez's men Antonio and Miguel, well they were speaking Spanish and thought I couldn't understand. They are working with someone, they are going to come here and try to kill everyone. No witnesses, a take over." Words spewed from the girl's mouth although she kept her voice calm. "What do you know about the wolves?" She turned to ask Alvarez.

"What?" Alvarez asked confused.

"That's the only part I couldn't understand. Nadie puede vivir o saber o Los Lobos van a matarnos. Nobody can know or live or the wolves will kill us. What did they mean?"

Alvarez turned to Jax and Pope, "Lobo Sonora. It literally means Sounding Wolves They're coming. Antonio and Miguel turned rat."

"Shit." Jax said, "Ok Hap get her out of here, take her home. Delilah did they say when they were coming?"

The dancer looked back up at the clock, "Twenty minutes, you have twenty minutes."

**Ok translation time, in the order that it appears. Antonio: Everything is fine Miguel. Nobody here can do just have to wait a little bit longer and the Mayans are ours. Miguel: I know! Is everyone ready/in their places/good to go. Antonio: We have to kill everyone tonight. Alvarez never should have worked with the white boys. Look what happened. The blacks are going to start something now. We have no other option. We had to do something and Alvarez didn't do anything. Miguel: I know that. I know he has to die with the others. If we do this everyone has to die. No one can live or know or the Lobos will kill us. Antonio: I know but they are going to help us. They're coming in forty minutes Everything is fine.**


	5. They Would Have Killed Us Right?

**a/n So I got an amazing review to this story but it was a guest review. Either way the reviewer brought up a point I thought it would be really good to explain. The review reminded me not everyone knows what's "normal" in the dancer world aka nobody but dancers and those who frequent strip clubs often and happen to be aware of the real deal. So if you're interested in a bit of insight to that and the story keep reading, if not skip to the un-bolded stuff. In this story we've almost exclusively seen Leah in "work mode" unless she has been with her friends. A dancers entire job is to sell a fantasy- make a man think that if he spends a bit more he can take her home, or make a man think she really is exactly the type of women he wants that night for conversation and dances. Guys who frequent strip clubs often know this. I put most of the Sons in that group. The review pointed out that Leah seemed mouthy without consequence with the Sons. She's not mouthy as more she's in "Work mode" basically she's giving the Sons what they expect of a dancer because that's what she's being paid to do. At least that's how I feel. She's ranked a bit higher than croweater or porn pussy because they are paying her to come and provide something for them. She's not tripping and landing with her legs open because she's a dancer not a croweater. Now this might now seem like a huge thing but think about it, it is. The Sons are paying her to be a dancer and they expect her to act like one. Most dancers don't fit the drugged out hooker stereotype, most are women doing the best they can with what they have to make shit work. I personally work with nurses other university students and once a teacher. I'm assuming the Sons know this plus they can get pussy for free, they don't need to pay for it. They are paying for the conversation, the show and the idea of the fantasy because that's what you pay a dancer for. I don't know if I'm making much sense here in trying to explain this. But basically I'm assuming that the Sons are aware of the difference between free pussy and paid dancing and are paying Leah for the second. We're going to start seeing her interact in her "normal mode" instead of her "work mode." The one point where Leah genuinely sassed Happy- snapped at him about her name- Happy ignored it because he's a solider and he needed to ignore it to get what needed to be done, done. Plus she's not club. She's not a sweetbutt she's not an old lady, if she's ever going to have the respect of the sons she can't trip and fall with her legs open. I promise this will all make sense. At least I hope so. Oh and a quick note on why I had Jax be ok with Mia's sass. Mia is a paid bouncer, a paid bounty hunter. Jax is paying her to do a service, one that honestly ranks a bit higher in his esteem than a dancer. She's protecting something, someone. That's a large part of who Jax is, protect the club, his family ectra. He understands and to an extent respects that. Plus neither of them are club and therefore are in an awkward stage of what is expected. So yeah that's the end of this really long authors note. Let me know what you think of my logic and the chapter. Oh second quick side note Happy still doesn't know Leah's real name. and final side note. I am and will be in Guatemala for the next seven months so I will be posting every other to every Saturday or at least thats the plan. Ok end all side notes.**

"You don't need help Prez?" Happy asked not wanting to miss out on the action that was sure to come.

"Not yet. Alvarez can handle the interrogation. I'll call you when we need you. Take her home and stay with her until I call. We don't know if they have anyone else. Check in with me in an hour." Jax said. Happy nodded once before turning to the dancer who was now sitting quietly with her hands in her lap. He understood that Jax was showing Alvarez that he trusted the Mayans but Happy knew he could do it better and quicker. Jax was his president however, orders were orders.

"Come on." He said.

"Use the back door." Jax directed as he turned to Pope and Alvarez. "Ok, here's how I think we should handle this…" Happy didn't stay to listen to the rest of the conversation between the leaders. He grabbed the dancers arm and began to lead her out of the clubhouse. He didn't want to bring the bitch home and watch her but those were his orders.

"You ever ride a bike before?" He asked the dancer.

"No, but I rode horse for over ten years." She replied.

"Grab on, lean with me and don't scream." Hap told her as he mounted his Dyna. She climbed on behind him and wrapped her arms tightly around his waist. A moment later they were speeding off into the night. She quickly gave him her address, an area on the out skirts of town and he pointed his bike in that direction. Turns out horseback riding did translate into riding a bike. The bitch held on tightly with out squeezing the life out of him. She leaned into the turns well too, only over compensated a few times.

He pulled in to the quite drive and around the back of the house before quickly cutting off the engine. The stripper jumped off the back and sprinted to the house. Digging keys out of the small bag around her wrist she threw open the door and ran in.

"Mia! Andrew!" She called loudly forcing herself to keep the fear out of her voice. Andrew couldn't know anything was wrong.

"In here reading." Mia called from the direction of Andrew's bedroom.

"Hi guys." Leah said as she walked into her son's bedroom. "How are things?"

"Mommy!" Andrew cried hopping out of bed to hug his mother. "Auntie Mia came back early so Auntie Sandy went home! Why are you dressed fancy?"

Leah looked down at her outfit forgetting that she hadn't changed before leaving the SOA clubhouse.

"I was working a very fancy party. All the waitresses were dressed up." She lied on the spot.

"But you weren't dressed up before you left." Andrew stated in the way only small children do.

"I changed when I got there. I didn't want my dress to get icky." Leah continued her lie smoothly, although that bit was partly true.

"Ok. You look pretty Mommy."

Leah kissed her son's head before saying "Auntie Mia and I have to have grown up talk for a bit. Can you look at your books or play with your Lego's for a bit?"

Andrew nodded before turning to the book Mia had just been reading him. Leah nodded her head walked with Mia out into the living room. She started for a moment when she saw Happy sitting at the peninsula that separated the living from the kitchen.

"What happened?" Mia asked not seeing Happy.

"I-" Leah began.

"No." Happy cut her off.

"What?" Leah asked shocked.

Happy sighed and forced himself to remember this bitch wasn't club. She didn't know the unspoken rules. You don't ask questions unless you were an Old Lady and earned the right. However she had saved their collective asses tonight if her info panned out. Some questions were expected, especially since the bitch wasn't club.

"Club stuff stays club." He replied thinking that would put a stop to any questions.

"But-" Leah began again.

"Besides she's in danger if she knows." Happy added knowing that would shut her up if nothing else would.

Leah sat down in the chair next to her heavily. "Am I in danger now?" She asked.

"Don't know, most likely." Happy replied, keeping things vague until he got word from Jax.

Leah nodded carefully. Hap saw the subtle shift of the girl literally stiffening her spine.

"Mia," she said, "can you take Andrew? Like I asked before?"

"Yeah honey. I don't have any new jobs for a bit. I'll take him with me. Want me to go tonight?"

"Yeah."

"What are you going to tell him."

"No idea yet." Leah answered placing her head in her hands. The night was starting to catch up with her quickly, but she had to hold it together for a bit longer. Once Andrew left with Mia she could freak out and process this. But she had to get her son safe first. Her son, her friends who were equally her family, once they were safe she could fall apart but right now they needed her.

"Who else is here?" Happy's voice tore Leah from her thoughts.

Leah looked at him and knew she couldn't lie. One he could easily find out in two minutes and two he might be her best chance at protecting her son.

"My six year old son." Leah said. "He's in danger here right?"

Happy nodded once a bit surprised the bitch had a kid. She looked young but hell kids were getting knocked up all the time now.

"And the danger is looking for me." Happy nodded again, "If my son stays here he's in danger too?" Another nod from Happy. "If he leaves will he be safer? Will he be safe?"

"I don't know." Happy replied honestly. Right now the stripper reminded him of his own ma doing everything she could for him. "But he would be safer."

"I'll go tell him to pack." Leah said turning to her son's room.

"What are you telling him?" Mia asked again.

"I have to work extra this week and San is busy with the store so he gets to stay with you for a sleep over." Leah said over her shoulder.

Mia looked at Happy closely as Leah walked down the hall.

"You're not going to let her tell me anything are you?" She asked not really expecting an answer. Her suspicion proved to be correct when the tattooed biker just turned his head toward her, not saying a word.

"That's ok. I was a solider, I know how to take orders without knowing everything but your club needs to know this. She means more than everything to me. Her and her son. They are my family, like your club is yours and my platoon used to be. Please take care of them. She did something for you tonight I don't know what. But I know she risked herself and her son. Her family. For strangers. She's a good person and shouldn't be hurt for that. Please understand that." Mia said quietly looking him straight in the eye.

Happy nodded slowly. The black bitch, the bouncer bitch was asking respectfully and wanting her family safe. Sons knew better than anyone that family wasn't always blood. Hell if family was blood Happy wouldn't have many people in this world at all.

"Don't forget to grab Berry." Leah called as she walked back to the kitchen her heels kicked off somewhere and her steps short and clipped.

"Can you wait in the bathroom?" She asked Happy out of the blue.

"What the fuck?" He asked unbelievably.

"I don't want Andrew asking questions on why a mans here. I never bring men home with me and I don't want him to think its any different tonight. Please." Leah felt her voice crack again at the please.

Happy opened his mouth to refuse. He didn't care what was going on he didn't listen to any bitches _orders_ unless it involved life or death. Questions were one thing, orders were a very different ball game. Just before he was able to tell her just that his pocket began to vibrate. Pulling it out he recognized the presidents number.

"I'll be out back." He growled, "Less than five minutes."

Leah nodded her understanding. She figured she should consider herself lucky he got the phone call when he did. Or she wouldn't have been given any time.

"Andrew honey!" She called, "Auntie Mia's ready to leave!"

"Almost ready mom!" He called.

"Now honey!" Leah called again, her voice almost breaking. She managed to quickly shuffle her son and all of his things into Mia's truck.

"I'll call. When it's safe. Love you guys." Leah said.

"We'll be ok. Love you to luv. One week. Be in touch within one week. Ok?" Mia told her seriously. "I didn't tell San anything. I couldn't really, I didn't know anything. Let me know. Please."

Leah nodded at her friend before watching her drive away with Andrew. She had to do something so she wouldn't think about the night so far. So she went inside and put on coffee and began to search her cupboards. She had all of the ingredients in front of her to make a beer batter cake when Happy walked back in.

"I'm staying here tonight, tomorrow we'll go- what the fuck are you doing?" He asked as he saw her start to mix things.

"Cooking. Well baking. People always confuse the two. I can do both but I really prefer to bake. I tend to find it relaxing. So when I'm stressed or upset I bake. Andrew's preschool teacher loved it. Being a mom and a student isn't easy. So I'd bake to relax. Must have sent him to school with snack once a week for the class at the least." Leah babbled, the night catching up with her.

Happy stared at the women. She was finally starting to crack. Part of him was surprised it took her this damn long. The larger part didn't want to deal with a freaking out women. She opened her mouth to start speaking again but before she could Happy slapped her lightly across the face. Not hard enough to hurt or even count as a slap but enough to get her attention. He expected her to freak out on him for hitting her but it was better than her falling apart.

"Thank you. I needed that." She said calming down. Leah knew she should be pissed at the biker but she had been freaking out and needed something to snap her back. Funny thing was Mia would have done the same thing- had done the same thing more than once. "You were saying when you walked in?"

"Jax called." Hap replied, "I'm staying here tonight. Tomorrow I'm taking you to the club house to talk to Jax."

"I'll make up the guest bedroom after I put this cake in the oven. Beer?"

Happy nodded and took the beer from her hand. Leah continued to mix the cake in silence for a moment she pretended things were normal. That having a biker in her house was normal and that her son was merely staying with friends. For a minute she could pretend. But only for a minute.

Twenty minutes later she was putting the cake in the oven forcing herself to stay calm by going through the motions.

"I'll go make up the spare room. I think the sheets are fresh but I'll change them just in case." Leah said moving toward the open living room to the hallway where the linen cabinet stood.

"Don't bother. I wont be sleeping anyway." Happy replied.

"Why not?" Leah asked.

"I'm here to keep watch tonight. Won't be sleeping." He told her.

"I really am in danger aren't I?" Leah asked.

"Yes."

"From your enemies right?"

"Yes." Happy replied, there was no point denying it. Jax had decided to tell her at least partial truth anyway.

"Those men, Miguel and Antonio, they really would have killed everyone wouldn't have they? Please, I know Jax is going to talk to me tomorrow but I need to know. They would have killed me right, they would have killed everyone?" Leah looked him straight in the eye as she asked, silently begging him to help her come to terms with what happened only short hours before.

"Yes. They would have killed us all." Happy replied honestly.

"Thank you, you're telling the truth- I can tell. Thank you for that. I'll be making up the spare room." Leah replied forcing her voice to remain even.

"I wont need-" Happy started.

"I know but I need to do something or I will fall completely apart so I'm going to make up the spare bed and than I am going to take this damn dress off, climb into a shower that's scalding hot, take two large sleeping pills and try to forget this night happened." Leah replied before pushing past him and moving into the guest bedroom. "Beer is in the fridge, cake goes off in thirty minutes I'll be here to take it out and the remote is by the TV. Help yourself to anything you need, guest bathroom is down the hall."


	6. They Would Have Killed Us All

**Hey sorry for the repost but I discovered that the links I put at the bottom before didn't work. One of my readers the girl with the crow tattoo made some awesome banners for this story! I linked the banners to my profile page. Check them out!**

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**A/n so this was another difficult to write chapter. Trying to set things up while keeping everyone in character. I majorly played on Jax's sense of right and wrong when the club decided how to deal with Leah and her information. The mentions of Mac and Happy's stepdad come from my story Smile Hap, a quick one shot I wrote. Feel free to check it out if you want some Happy back story. I think Happy is my favorite character to write/read b/c we have hardly any back story on him. We make him however we see him. Anywho as always read and review and enjoy! Major shout to to anyone who as already reviewed I think I manage to answer all of them and a big shout out to all guest reviews who I can't thank personally! **

"They would have killed everyone?"

"Yes, they would have killed us all."

The words of her short conversation played over and over again in her head as she made up the spare bedroom with new sheets. Part of her gave a harsh mechanical laugh as she thought about the stoic biker out in her living room sleeping on her spare flowered sheets. As she put in the hospital corners she could see her hands shake more and more. God she never bothered with the corners she just wanted to keep her hands busy for a little longer. Finally when she couldn't do anything else in the spare room she went to her master bath and began to clean until she heard the kitchen timer go off. She walked briskly into the kitchen and set the cake on the stove top. She nodded to Happy before going back to her bathroom She turned the shower on all the way to hot. She hoped that the scalding water would take her mind off of the night for a bit longer. It didn't work.

"They would have killed us all."

Leah tried to focus on something else, anything. Andrew was starting kindergarten this year. He needed new school supplies and cloths. If she picked up a few extra shifts for the next month that should give her enough extra to get him some nice things. God would she be able to go to work? First tuition payment of the year would be due in two months. Her savings couldn't cover that! Sandy would give her a break on the rent but banks weren't quite as understanding. Course that didn't really weight quite as much as everything else did given the nights events.

"They would have killed us all."

Part of her couldn't understand that. She was always careful. She took calculated risks when it was needed but she was careful. She had a work phone and a home phone, the work one was a prepaid, almost completely untraceable. Same with her personal phone. She paid San in cash only along with almost all of the other bills. She didn't have a lease. Utilities were in San's name. The only things in her name were her uni records, loans- which were sent to a PO Box and her sons records. Nothing that traced to her current address, just the PO Box. San called her paranoid, Mia called her smart. Leah just liked her privacy. How could this be happening? She just wanted to pretend it never happened. That Happy just didn't know what he was talking about when he said she was in danger. He could have been wrong part of her brain kept whispering to her. But she knew that wasn't true. Happy was telling the truth.

"They would have killed us all."

God fucking damnit she couldn't get those words out of her head. What would happen to Miguel and Antonio? She doubted the Sons of Anarchy were the type to go to the police. It wasn't exactly as secret that they weren't exactly on the right side of the law. People talked when they thought no one was there. Strippers were often ignored an therefore heard everything. What the hell would happen? What the hell would happen to her?

Fuck. The shower didn't help with anything all it did was raise hot water welts in her skin. She could feel her breathing getting shorter, shallower and quicker. She recognized it as a panic attack. She'd only had one other one before and that's when the line on the home pregnancy test showed a pink plus. Leah let her knee's give out from under her as she slid to the floor of her shower. She pulled her knees up to her naked chest and put her head between her knees and tried to focus on breathing. The hot shower water pounded her back and ran down her hair in rivets. The energy it took to focus on her breathing made it impossible to think about the night. By the time the water began to run luke warm to ice berg Leah managed to get herself under the resemblance of control. Practically crawling out of her shower she climbed naked and still mostly damp into her bed. She groped the nightstand until she found her bottle of sleeping pills. She forced the childproof lock open and dry swallowed two pills. A half hour of tossing and turning later she managed to fall into a fitful sleep.

~o0o~

Out in the kitchen Happy sipped his beer. He heard the sound of a cupboard slam, he assumed she grabbing those damn sheets. But he understood the need to keep busy. To do something to keep from thinking too much. God knows there were nights after Mac all he could do was clean his gun over and over again just for something to do with his hands. The timer on the stove began to sound sharp and shrill. The bitch came and grabbed what ever it was out of the stove. She acknowledged him with a nod he returned before going back down the hall.

Fuck he still didn't know her real name. He knew she called herself Delilah. Strange choice. One of the older and more classic names. Never met a stripper who did that. Most bitches chose names like Diamond or Sapphire or some fake shit like that.

He heard the shower start and assumed the girl was doing exactly what she said she'd do. He started to wander the house looking around. The walls of the hallway were covered with photos of the bitch and a young boy he assumed was her son. A few of them had the bouncer bitch and another bitch who he assumed was the other friend they mentioned. No man was in any of the photos he noticed. Happy wasn't claiming the Sons to be saints and fuck half of them probably had kids they never heard of and the other half weren't exactly active in their kids life- Jax and Opie aside- but family was family. Tig helped his bitch of a daughter Dawn every time she came sniffin' for cash and Bobby made damn sure he was at almost every one of his son's birthdays. Chibs went on a hell of a bender every holiday and on his old ladies and kids birthday's. You'd think there'd be one photo of the kid's dad or some other man. Course bitch said she didn't bring men home but who knew how true that shit was.

Happy passed by the door way to the master bedroom when he heard a thunk. He paused to listen closer deciding if he should go in or not. A moment later he could hear soft crying over the sound of the shower. The bitch finally broke. He was impressed she managed to hold on that long. He moved away from the door and down to the guest bathroom to take a piss. After all he was here to make sure the bitch didn't go to the cops tonight, not to take care of her mental health. After taking his piss he walked back into the living room and threw himself on the couch and began flicking through channels on the TV. Half and hour later his brain registered the sound of the shower shutting off. Tow hours later he began to nod off himself. He let his body fall into a light doze. He knew from experience he'd still hear everything and wake up at the slightest sound.

~o0o~

Leah woke up later than usual, the sleeping pills doing their job. She stretched slowly for a few blissful moments forgetting the night before. Unfortunately that didn't nearly as long as she would have liked. In one pushing moment the entire night before came rushing back. For a moment she began to panic again before forcing herself to calm down. Andrew was safe, Sandi knew nothing and Mia was with Andrew. Leah didn't really have anyone else that was close to her in California. Being a single mom who was a student and moonlighted as a stripper made it hard to socialize much. Either way that didn't matter right now. There was nothing she could do about any of that. Better to focus on the now. And right now she was starving and she was more than willing to bet the biker in her living room was also. Leah threw on a pair of sweats and an old baggy tee shirt and went to the kitchen to start cooking again.

Opening her fridge she noted that she needed to go shopping soon. It was one of those thoughts that automatically registered in her brain. Like the continual to-do list a person keeps constantly running in their head. Pick up the milk, drop off the mail, do this and that. Leah clung to that thought just as she had clung to every other thought of normalcy in the past 15 hours. She needed that. That reminder that things had been normal and could be normal. Well her normal. Eh cookie cutter normal was over rated anyway. At least that's what she told herself. She wouldn't give up her son for anything but she wouldn't mind changing a few things here or there. Not being so damn young would have been a good thing.

Leah started mixing eggs, milk, cinnamon and vanilla together for French toast. She threw the bacon in a skillet next to her. She mentally added eggs and bacon to her shopping list. There was a bit of juice left just enough for breakfast. Leah used the last few eggs to scramble. She was able to focus solely on cooking and not think of anything else. French toast, eggs, bacon wasn't she just Martha Stewart. But just like last night keeping her hands busy kept her focus, kept her from freaking out again. Looking around she realized her houseguest wasn't even in the house. Maybe he left in the morning, before she woke up. She didn't know how long he was supposed to stay anyway. Maybe she wasn't in danger anymore. God that was wonderful to think about for a moment. Unfortunately that bubble was popped when her front door opened and she heard his voice coming from the front.

"Yeah I'll bring her." She heard him. Guess she wasn't quite so lucky that he would be gone and all last night wouldn't be nearly as huge as it seemed.

Happy walked back into the house after his phone call with the prez. The Mayan bastards had been taken care off. Two shallow graves on the side of the highway filled with two burned bodies were all that was left of the traitors. Course they talked before they were allowed to die. They were working alone, no other Mayan help. So far it seemed like no one but Pope, Alvarez and the Sons knew about the strippers involvement. All they had to do was make sure the stripper bitch didn't tell anyone else. He doubted she would. Jax would give her a nice buy out; bitch had a kid and would need the cash. Downside Pope had another hold over their heads now knowing more about their cartel shit but they also saved his ass along with theirs, which pretty much canceled out that debt. Hopefully. They had enough shit raining down on their heads as it was.

"Jax wants to talk to you today." Happy said as he walked back into the kitchen. The bitch was at the stove again. Hell he was a man, he'd never complain about a bitch who could cook. As a thirty-eight year old bachelor home cooked meals were far and few between.

"When?" She asked not even turning from the stove.

"In an hour." He replied.

She turned and set a plate in front of him.

"Thought you might be hungry. Needed-"

"Something to do with your hands." Happy finished for her. As far as coping methods went he'd seen worse. She nodded back at him with a half smile on her face. She fixed up her own plate and came to sit across from him. They began to eat in silence.

"What's your name?" Happy asked curiously. It bothered him that he still didn't know.

She glanced up at him surprised at the question. "I'd rather not say." She replied evenly hoping that would work.

"Why not?" Happy asked forcing his voice to stay even at least for now.

"If you don't know my name than nobody else involved does. If it gets to dangerous and I need to leave it'll be harder to find me." Leah answered. She had thought of that last night as she tossed and turned. She didn't know what was going on and she was terrified. Until she had more information she would give as little as possible out. Right now she had only half the pieces and a quarter of the picture for the puzzle she was in.

"Smart bitch. But we will get your name later either way." Happy replied letting his voice drop a bit dangerously. He was impressed she thought of that though. Not many bitches he knew would think that far ahead.

"I have my bachelors in criminology and psychology with a minor kinesics." Leah replied, "I did my thesis paper on organized crime syndicates and how they function to regulate society- playing a crucial role in the functioning of a country. Those men would have killed us, you said so yourself. Lobos Sonora, drug cartel. I didn't think of it until last night. I wont say anything more about myself until I talk to Jax."

"I could tie you to that chair your sitting in and toss the place and find out that way. Or kill you now myself, you know a bit to much." Happy replied. He had to tell Jax she knew about the cartel. That shit could blow back on them. Playing nice might not work as well as they planned.

"You could. But my son is safe and I can't stop you." She replied looking him in the eye. Happy could see the fear curled behind her tight features but he could also see her determination. "I long ago acquainted myself to accepting the things I can't stop. I'd fight tooth and nail and you'd win. But I wont give anything on a silver platter if I can help it. The less I know about you and you know about me the safer I am, the safer my son is."

Happy nodded at her slowly. Bitch was terrified but sticking to her guns. He liked that. Bitch reminded him of his ma a bit. No matter how many times his shit head of a step dad smacked her around she never let the fucker touch Hap himself. Bitch was just doing everything she could to keep her family safe. Going to the police wouldn't be in her best interest-not for her or her brat- once they explained that to her they'd be fine.

"You got a degree what the hell you doing stripping?" Happy asked curious. He couldn't do anything until he talked to Jax anyway. Might as well try to get as much info as he could.

The girl looked at him warily as if debating whether her answer would give anything away. Happy raised his eyebrow expectantly.

"I had my son when I was seventeen. Got to be a little too much month and the end of the money while I was trying to study. Needed a way to make the difference." She answered.

"What about the dad?"

"Andrew doesn't have a father." She replied with a tone of finality of her voice. She gathered her empty plate and Happy's and walked over to the sink.

Happy slowly sipped another beer while Leah cleaned the kitchen. He found himself enjoying watching her. He'd never spent time with a woman who wasn't his mother or on her back. This bitch was interesting he could see her forcing herself to focus solely on what she was doing. He wondered if she'd break again. That much fucking control had to break eventually. The meltdown he heard last night couldn't be the only one she had in her.

Thirty minutes later Leah was following Happy on his bike to the clubhouse. Her hands gripped the wheel with white knuckles. They pulled into Teller-Morrow Auto and Leah climbed out of the car. She breathed deeply before smoothing down her tee shirt. Time to face the dragon so to speak.

~o0o~

Inside the clubhouse Jax sat at the bar. Happy was due with the girl any minute now. A quick church this morning had decided the best way to deal with her. Bribe her with cash and stick someone with her for a week so she felt safe and like she owed the club. She was in this shit because of the club so they would go the nice way first. Hopefully that would be enough that she kept her mouth shut. Minute she made noise about going to the police they would show their not so nice face. Jax drained the beer in his hand. He couldn't help but feel fucking furious every time he saw Clay sitting at the damn table. The bastard killed his father and hit his mother. Jax was no stranger to violence and he had hit a woman before but that was a fucking porn star whore, not an Old Lady, not his mother. Hell he'd never raised his hand to Tara before. Wendy yes, when the crack whore was shooting up while pregnant with his son but not before, never when she was clean. So he'd find a way to get rid of Clay but for now he was needed. Just until Jax figured out shit with the cartel.

Jax heard the familiar roar of a motorcycle pulling into the garage parking lot. He glanced at the clock, right on time. He nodded to Juice sitting over in the corner bent over a laptop. The younger man nodded back and gathered his things before moving into the chapel. Chibs followed Juice. Jax went outside to meet them.

Jax looked around the parking lot. He saw Happy parking his bike in line with the others. The stripper was climbing out of her car. He waved Happy over to him. They had spoken earlier when Happy threw in his yea vote for the plan.

"How'd it go?" He asked.

"Bitch knows about the cartel." Happy said quickly.

"Shit. She making any noise about telling the feds?" Jax asked.

"Nope. Playing close to the vest. Didn't even say her real name. Bitch is smart, got a degree in criminology she said. I think we're still good though."

"You think the plan will still work? Money and protection offer?"

"Yeah bitch has a kid. She wants to keep the kid safe." Happy replied.

"Ok, we always got fucking plan b." Jax said running his hand through his hair. This day was going to shit and going to shit fast. Damn dancer knew more than she should. Fucking Pope knew more about their shit and they still hadn't solved shit with him. One fucking shit show after another. Sons needed out of the Cartel bullshit and fast. Once that was taken care of Jax could get rid of Clay. Start moving the club to more legit shit, like his father had wanted. That shit all had to wait though. First he had to deal with the tiny fucking girl who saved their ass.

"Hey, thanks for coming. Come on in with me." Jax said smiling turning on the charm. She smiled back hesitantly at him before following him into the clubhouse. He led her into the bar area and into the chapel. A room she was familiar with and more private would put her at ease. Hopefully make her more willing to talk. Jax gestured to her to sit. He slid an envelope down toward her.

"A bonus for a great performance last night." Jax said.

Leah glanced around the room. Juice- the kid with the Mohawk- sat on the other side of the table with the scarred man. She couldn't remember his name. Happy stood leaning against the wall and Jax sat in front of her. She opened the envelope and forced her face not to react.

"Hush money." She said.

"Call it what you want." Jax replied evenly.

"I wont talk." Leah said, "I just want my son and myself safe. I know it was a drug cartel involved. Do they know who I am?"

"We haven't heard anything yet. Juice here can track info better once we know your name. He'll set up alerts so we know if someone starts digging." Jax told her.

"And so you can keep an eye on me to." Leah replied.

"Yes." Jax answered better her be a bit afraid of what they might do. She wouldn't do anything and they wouldn't have to do anything to her.

Leah thought about it. They already knew where she lived and she didn't want to leave. She liked her life here. She kept quite they'd leave her alone.

"So I'm choosing the lesser of two evils." She answered, "Leah. Leah Mathers. M-a-t-h-e-r-s."

"Middle name?" Juice asked typing in his computer.

"Isabelle." Leah answered putting her head in her hands.

"Got it. Wow you're barely in the system. No W-2's past 18 last current address not a PO Box was a year and a half ago. Graduated a year ago from a Oregon University. Not high honors but nothing to sniff at. Enrolled at UC Oakland in the law program. After that almost nothing. Nothing I can get into at least. Not without raising any flags." Juice said as he peered over his screen. "No credit card activity, no cell phone in your name. You running from something?" Juice asked her.

"No." Leah responded shifting in her seat. She wasn't running, just didn't want to be easily found. Jax raised an eyebrow casually at her.

"I like my privacy." Leah said.

"What are you hiding from?" Jax asked.

"I'm not hiding. Just making myself harder to be found." Leah said dodging the question.

"Why?" Jax demanded, "We cant protect you unless we know."

"My son's father… he doesn't know Andrew exists. I want to make sure it stays that way." Leah replied.

"Who's the father?" Chibs asked from the side. Leah glanced at him.

"My dad's boss. He's a fairly powerful man. I was seventeen and flattered that he seemed interested in talking with me at the company Christmas party. Next thing I knew he gave me to much wine with a little extra in it and I was on my back." Leah said bitterly. The bikers looked at each other that shit wasn't ok but not their business. "He has nothing to do with this though. Am I safe now?"

"Like I said we haven't heard anything yet. We'll keep an eye on any hits and someone will stay with you. Week goes by and we hear nothing we figure you're safe."

"Just like that?" Leah asked.

"Yep."

"Can I go to work?" Leah asked.

"Not enough in the envelope girl?" Chibs asked.

"Never know what might come up. Plus I like to stay busy." Leah answered.

"Should be safe. One of us will go with you." Jax answered. "Hap will stay with you today again."

"To keep me safe or to make sure I don't run to the cops?" Leah asked.

"Both." Jax said. "Someone else will stay with you tonight."

Leah nodded her understanding.

"Thank you." Leah said, "May I ask something?"

"Sure doll. Might not answer." Jax smiled.

"Why? Why is any of this happening? Why did they want to kill us all? Why is a cartel involved in this? What happened to Miguel and Antonio?" The questions that had rolled around in her dreams poured out of her mouth.

"More than one question." Happy rasped.

"First rule, no talking to anyone about this outside the club. Rule two, no questions." Jax said leaning forward, "Because if you do the cartel isn't all you have to worry about. Understand?"

Leah leaned back in her chair, "Crystal."

"Good. Happy will follow you home and stay with you until tonight. Juice will be there over night."

Leah nodded recognizing a dismissal when she heard one. She stood to go.

"Wait out in the bar." Jax said.

Leah nodded her understanding and left the room. Once outside she collapsed against the bar, the reserves she'd drawn to face the meeting collapsed around her. Part of her was relieved, it looked like she would be safe. Part of her was terrified. She knew almost nothing about the Sons and now they were playing a big part in her life.

"You all right?" The prospect asked her as he came from the back restocking the bar.

"Any chance I can get a dink Al?" She asked. "Whiskey again?"

"Yeah, here you go." Al slid a shot toward her.

"Thanks." Leah downed her shot hoping that shit would soon start making sense.


	7. Settling In

**a/n here is the next chapter! Another long one to! Yay! So again I linked two banners for this story that were made by the wonderful Girl with the Crow Tattoo on to my profile, check them out. Also if anyone is interested I linked the images I have of Leah in my head to my page also. So read review and enjoy and remember I do not own SOA sadly...**

"Juice I want everything you can find on her without raising any flags. Can you do that?" Jax asked.

"Yep. Just give me a bit of time." Juice said bent over the computer.

"Ok, Hap you're with her today. Juice tonight and Chibs I want you to be with her tomorrow. Talk to her. See what else you can find out. I want to know as much about her as we can. A'ight?" Jax looked at the others around him, "We'll figure the rest of this shit out later. If the week stays calm we'll sit down with Pope again. Get this shit figured out."

"A'ight Jackie Boy." Chibs said before lifting himself out of his seat and walking outside. Juice nodded absently as he bent over the computer screen in front of him. Happy looked at his prez before nodding also.

"Try to get her to talk. And not in your usually way. Talk to her." Jax said to Happy chuckling a bit. Happy growled a bit under his breath talking wasn't exactly his strong suit. Breaking someone's bones until they told him everything they knew yes, talking it out of them not so much. Juice began to smirk from behind his computer only to glance up and see Happy glaring at him.

"Shutting up now." The youngest Son said as he bent his head back into his computer.

"Do what I can." Happy said before heading out the doors.

~o0o~

"Come on. We're going back." He told the stripper- Leah. She glanced up at him from where she sat at the bar and nodded. She said a polite good bye to Al behind the bar and followed Happy outside.

"I have to make two stops before we go home. Well back to my place." Leah said once they were outside.

"No." Happy answered.

"I need to get groceries if I'm going to be feeding bikers for the next week and I need to stop at the liquor store if I'm going to get through this week. Please it wont take long." Leah looked up at him straight in the eye. She didn't try to beg or try the pouty face. She knew she couldn't do either of those well. Straight forward was more her style.

"Make a list. We'll send the prospect." Happy said with out turning as he mounted his bike.

"Fine." Leah said. She climbed into her car and pulled out of TM Auto with Happy following behind her on his bike. Leah turned not toward her house but to the grocery store. She didn't plan on not listening to Happy but something made her turn to the store. She quickly parked and went to climb out of her old car. She made it three steps to the store before a strong hand gripped her arm and whipped her around.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Happy's rough voice growled in her ear.

"Grocery shopping." She said managing to keep her voice calm and even.

"No you're not. Now get your ass in that car and drive to your house before I throw your ass on the back of my bike and your car has a sudden accident and wont work for the rest of the week." He growled furious. They were offering her protection and she was throwing it in their goddamn faces.

"But-" the bitch started to speak.

"Now!" Happy cut her off. She opened her mouth as if she was going to argue.

Leah planned on arguing. Wanted to tell him that it was her life and she'd do as she damn well pleased. Before she could get her first words out though she caught his eyes. Dead serious and pissed off. Her arguments died in her throat and she nodded meekly before turning on her heel and walked back to her car. She restarted the engine and pulled out toward her house.

Happy followed close behind getting more pissed off with every fucking mile. He told her a prospect would pick everything up he told her to go straight home. What did she do? Fucking ignored him. That shit didn't fly. His anger built and built until they pulled into her drive. He killed his bike engine as the bitch got out of her car and walked into the house.

"What the hell was that?" He asked as he slammed the door shut behind him, "I said make a goddamn list and the prospect will pick the shit up."

"I know, I heard you." Leah said trying to remain calm.

"Than why the fuck didn't you listen!" Happy yelled advancing on her. Leah backed up to match each of his forward steps. "We're doing you a goddamn fucking favor by keeping an eye on you." He reminded her.

"I know!" The dancer screamed back at him, "I fucking know that. But I wanted to feel normal for just one minute. Because my life has been turned upside down and fucking sideways and I'm just trying to understand how. I want to feel safe. I wanted to pretend that I was just stopping at the store to pick up a few fucking things and that Andrew was staying with a friend. I wanted to fucking pretend that I wasn't somehow involved in some cartel shit and that I didn't have to send my son away so he'd be safe. I wanted things to be fucking normal for one fucking minute! And having a prospect -whatever the hell that is- do my shopping for me is the farthest thing from normal I can think of! So I'm sorry alright! I am thankful for what you guys are doing but I'm terrified and I just want things back the way they were!" Leah screamed every thought that had run through her head in the past twenty four hours at the biker in front of her. By the time she reached her last sentence the fire had gone from her voice leaving it broken with chocked backed tears. "I just want my son and myself safe again."

"You need to fucking listen to us. We might be watching your ass right now to make sure you don't talk but you saved a lot of people in that clubhouse. We don't forget shit like that. We're going to protect you as long as you're not a threat to the club." Happy explained to her. "Make that and I'll send it to the prospect." Happy looked down at her. The dancer stood a good head and a half shorter than him with her tiny frame backed up against the counter that jutted out from the kitchen, her hands behind her to support herself as she leaned away from him as he towered over her.

"Ok." She replied looking directly at his chest. Happy moved so she could pass by him. She grabbed a pen and paper out of a drawer and sat down. "Will it be just you for dinner or someone else also? "

"Don't know. Juice will be staying with you tonight" Happy said honestly.

"I'll plan for two. Do you have any food allergies?"

"No."

"Ok. Thanks." Twenty minutes later Leah set down her pen and read over her list again. That should be enough to keep everyone fed and happy for the next week or so plus enough booze. She glanced into her living room where Happy sat flicking through tv channels. She needed to stop freaking out and realize this was her normal now. At least that's what she told herself. Focus on the now.

"Can I call Mia?" She asked Happy as she handed him the list. He glanced up from the TV.

"What are you going to tell her?" He asked.

"See if she can keep Andrew for the week. I want to talk to my son." Leah replied.

"Ok. Don't give away club shit. And stay in here."

"I won't give away anything about the club." Leah replied. She pulled Mia's phone out of her pocket and dialed her work number.

"Lee?" Her friends worried voice came over the phone, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah. I'm fine." Leah answered. "You guys alright?"

"Yep we're having a great time. Wanna talk to Andrew for a bit?"

"Please."

"Hi Mommy!" Leah breathed a sigh of relief hearing her sons voice.

"Hi honey. How are you?" She asked making sure her voice sounded happy and worry free.

"Good. Guess what?" Andrew asked.

"What?"

"Auntie Mia took me to the zoo. We saw polar bears and penguins and seals and monkeys and lions…" Andrew started listing every animal that could possibly be found in a zoo. Leah listened intently to her son making all the right noises in the right places.

Happy watched her talking on the phone. He could see the minute her son came on the line. The lines of worry that had colored her face for the past day eased away and she finally smiled a real fucking smile. Not that overly bright one she wore at the club or the tight strained one she wore for the past twelve hours but a real smile. It was pretty he decided. He ignored whatever it was she was saying to her kid and just took a minute to watch her instead. She was _tiny _like fucking tiny. Smaller than his ma even. Tiny tits and long darker hair- not his type. He liked blondes with big tits and no brains. She had no tits and seemed to be a bit extra on the brains if a damn degree said anything about it.

"Yeah honey I'm working lots this week. But it's a good thing because when you get back from your sleep over with Auntie Mia we can go to the movies and the fun park. But I need to talk to Auntie Mia again ok? Thanks baby." Happy snapped his attention back to her conversation. If she was talking to the black bitch again he better pay attention.

"Hey Mia, thank you so much for taking him…. Yeah I'm safe." She paused and turned to look at him sitting in her living room. "They have some one staying with me. Can you keep Andrew for the rest of the week?... Thank you so much Mi. I owe you…. Kiss him twice for me… Love you to."

Leah hung up the phone and just sat there looking at it for a minute. She turned and took a moment to study the biker on her couch. He was looking straight at her, black eyes staring straight into her blue ones. Most parts of his body that she could see were covered in tattoos, underneath his short buzz cut she could see the tattoos lining his head- god that must have hurt like a bitch. Tall too. Six two if she guessed right not overly huge though. More lean muscle than bulk not that he was small not even close. Compared to her he was a fucking giant, course most men were compared to her. She could see the muscles of his arms in tight cords from under his short sleeves. Definitely was attractive. She could tell he was older than her fortyish was her guess. She could see lines fanning out around his eyes and corners of his mouth. Not enough to make him look old or past his prime but enough to give his face some character and experience. Definitely attractive. The tiny voice in the back of her head reminded her that the closest she'd been to sexual satisfaction was sitting in her (locked) bedside drawer. She had a six year old after all. She shook her head out. She knew she was just stressed out and looking for close to any relief of tension to take her mind off shit. Better focus that stress energy elsewhere.

She walked over to the closet her often-ignored cleaning supplies sat. She cleaned when she was stressed. Well stressed and couldn't bake. Besides baking was more productive when you had a school age son so deep cleaning often got pushed to the wayside. She dragged out the vacuum and the mop bucket that held the dusting supplies. She dragged it all into the center of the living room before moving back into the kitchen.

"What the hell are you doing?" Happy asked her.

"Cleaning I'm a bit stressed right now and the whole keeping my hands busy to relax thing." She replied.

"Thought you baked." Happy stated.

"I do but the prospect- which I still don't know what that is by the way- hasn't come by with the grocery list. Cant bake without ingredients. I'd drink myself shit faced-which I still plan on doing later- but again the prospect thing/person hasn't come with the list. I don't keep alcohol in the house much. San will usual bring over a bottle of wine. I don't like having a lot of booze with Andrew in the house. Third option isn't an option so I go for fourth option. Cleaning." Leah explained while starting to clean off the kitchen counters of the clutter that naturally gathers in a lived in home.

"What's option three?" Happy asked curious.

"Fast, angry, naked sex with no strings and preferably no names exchanged." Leah said half distractedly as she sorted through an old pile of mail. She glanced up and aimed a half smiled at Happy. She could feel herself starting to relax. Andrew was safe and happy with Mia, she was fine and had protection. She knew her mind was just forcing itself to adjust to the new situation and deal but the action of cleaning plus talking to her son helped her relax. For a second Happy was taken back. Sure bitch might be a stripper but she came off as a bit of a tight ass. Hearing bout her kid's dad kinda confirmed to him she might be.

"Prospect's a guy who's not patched yet." He told her.

"Patched?" She asked moving from the now sorted mail pile to the fridge. She opened the door and began to toss out anything that had expired.

"Full member. Prospects have to earn their patch. Work for it." Happy explained stifling a yawn.

"Oh so basically a prospect is your bitch until you decide to let him into the secret fort." Leah said.

Happy nodded through a second yawn.

"Have you slept at all since before last night?" Leah asked glancing at the clock seeing it was moving toward late afternoon.

"No."

"Would I be safe if you took a nap?"

"Most likely." Happy answered honestly.

"Guest bedroom's open. Sleep for a bit." Part of Leah was just trying to be a good host. The other part of her just wanted some alone time to finish processing.

"I'll be fine here." Happy said kicking off his boots and lying down on the couch. He really did need a bit of sleep; he'd been up for over twenty-four hours not counting his catnap the night before. Jax would have him doing something tonight if he was putting Juice with Leah.

"Ok. I'll be quite as possible." Leah said.

"Don't answer the door. I'll wake up if anyone comes. You wait for me to answer all phone calls also." He demanded.

Leah nodded and went back to her cleaning binge. She hummed quietly and off key to herself as she wiped down the fridge and counters. She than quietly moved into the guest bedroom and began dusting the nightstand and small dresser there. She was about to move to the main bathroom when she heard a knock at the door. She walked back into the living room to see Happy already up and looking through the peephole, a pistol hung loose in his hand at his side. After a glance through the peephole he shoved his gun into the waistband of his pants and opened the door. Al stood in the doorway shuffling his feet awkwardly holding several bags of groceries.

"Put them in the kitchen Marcus." Happy said to him sharply before turning back around.

"Hello Al. How are you?" Leah asked politely going into the kitchen to help put away the groceries.

"I'm alright. I got everything on the list Happy texted me." Al said as he unpacked the groceries on to the counter.

"Thank you for running out for me. Are you staying for dinner? I was about to put it on." Leah said.

"Umm…" Al began.

"No, he has shit to do at the club." Happy cut him off. Al just nodded bluntly before shuffling out the door and back to the van. "Why do you call him Al?" He asked Leah as she put groceries away in the cupboards.

"Andrew's father was named Marcus. I hate the name. Al's middle name is Alan and said I could call him that. How does burgers sound for supper?" She asked as she contemplated the ground beef in her hand.

"Whatever's fine." Happy told her. Truth was he usually just ate what ever was in the fridge at the clubhouse for supper. Sometimes he'd stop by Jax's for a bite, shit with Pope meant every Old Lady, and especially Tara has someone with her. Opie and Layla might still be having problems but a Son was at the studio every day keeping an eye out for her. A few of the Nomads had been called into help. Some had been sticking around since Koz's memorial. The sweetbutts usually stuck something edible in the fridge or Gemma still brought stuff by. Any thing home cooked tasted good.

"I'll make enough for Juice too. It'll be ready in an hour or so." The clock flashed 5:30 at her; dinner would be ready by seven at the latest.

She looked up from the kitchen fifteen minutes later to see Happy taking his gun apart and cleaning it on her coffee table.

"What the hell are you doing!" She yelled. She'd found that table with Sandra on a out of the blue antique trip to San Francisco. She'd gotten it for a steal. It was one of her fewer nicer pieces of furniture.

"Cleaning my gun. You're not the only one who likes to keep their hands busy." He said casually.

"Cleaning… coffee table… Use this at least!" She grabbed one of her kitchen towels and threw it at him as hard as she could. She watched the towel land a pathetic five feet away from him. Happy looked at the limp towel on the floor and back at the coffee table. The cleaning oils did have a tendency to leave marks on his table at home. Leah walked around the counter and grabbed the towel and plopped it down on to his lap, "Please put the gun and its parts and its other stuff on the towel."

Happy shrugged and picked up the towel and put it under the table and continued cleaning his gun. Didn't really matter where his gun got cleaned. Every now and than he'd glance up at Leah cooking calmly in the kitchen. He could see how much more relaxed she was today from yesterday. Bitch adjusted quick.

Six fifteen brought another knock on the door. Happy grabbed his now clean and put together gun and checked the peephole again. He threw open the door to let Juice in giving his brother a big hug.

"Hey brother. How are things?" Happy asked.

"Good. Jax sent me over." Juice said. "What smells so damn good?"

"Hey Juice." Leah said from the kitchen, "I'm making food, you hungry?"

"Sure am. Hap, got a message from Jax." The kid was almost bouncing again. Hap nodded and had the kid walk outside with him.

"Found a Sonora hide out spot outside of town into Oakland. Jax wants it watched until we get back up from Galindo. Asked if you could take the first shift tonight. Just till two." Juice asked while bouncing on his heels.

"Yeah. I got it. Who's there now?"

"Opie is with Tig. You got time to eat. It smells good what ever it is."

"Burgers she said. I'll grab a bite and head over." Happy said turning back to the house.

"Fuck yeah." Juice let out as he followed Hap back into the house.

"Burger?" Leah asked.

"Hell yes." Juice said plopping down on one of the stools around the jutted out peninsula.

"You're just in time than. I just finished cooking." Leah plopped a plate down in front of the other biker. A burger sat there piled high with onions, tomatoes, and lettuce next to it sat fresh veggies and fruit. She set an identical plate next to Happy and made one up for herself. "Bon appetite."

"Damn this looks amazing." Juice said before diving into his food.

"Thanks, I have beer batter cake for dessert. Beer?" Leah asked before moving back into the kitchen.

"Love one."

"Happy want one?"

"Yeah." Happy called out around a mouth full of burger.

Leah brought both of them a beer before pouring herself a more than generous glass of white wine.

"Drinking half the bottle?" Juice commented.

"My wine glasses double as cereal bowls. So sue me." Leah chuckled as she took a healthy sip from her admittedly over large wine glass. The three ate in mostly silence. Happy finished his food quickly before standing up.

"Heading out?" Leah asked.

"Yeah, Juice'll be staying for the night. Someone will be here in the morning. Same thing goes, no opening the door, same with phone." Hap said as he gathered his shit. Five minutes later the roar of a bike sounded his leaving.

"You planning on doing any sleeping tonight?" Leah asked turning to Juice.

"Nah. Might grab an hour or two on the couch but not more than that." Juice smiled up at her.

"Alright. Well beers in the fridge. Let me know if you get hungry." Leah said as she began to straighten up the kitchen.

"Thanks. So I finally found your tax records. 1099's. Never met a stripper who paid taxes." Juice told her.

"You'd be surprised." Leah replied, "Lots of girls who go to school file. Plus its hard to raise a son behind bars for tax evasion."

"Found your birth certificate to. Raised in Minnesota?" Juice asked.

"You're really good." Leah said more than a bit impressed. "Raised in Duluth."

"Yeah, you were in a few of the online photos of your old high school. Did a search of police records to. Never filed against anyone." Leah knew he was poking for info.

"Nope never did." Leah answered.

"Why not." Juice bluntly asked. He was curious. He looked into her parents to. Came from money. Young pretty white girl, cops would have believed her even if Daddy's boss was more than a bit wealthy.

"At first it was if I filed charges it'd be real and I didn't want to admit. Than I found out I was pregnant. It was easier for my parents to believe it was my Puerto Rican boyfriend who knocked me up than Daddy's boss raped me. I didn't even think that I could get pregnant. I was to busy trying to pretend it never happened." Leah didn't know why she was opening up to the younger man but she'd dealt with her past long ago.

"What happened when the baby turned out white?" Juice asked.

"Well by than we'd all gotten so good at pretending it never happened that they couldn't do anything else. Didn't hurt that Daddy got a huge raise right after Andrew was born. I turned eighteen a month later, finished sr year and moved my son and myself to Oregon before the ink on my diploma was dry. Busted my ass waiting tables at a truck stop where they let me set up Andrew's pack n' play for a year. Didn't tell my parents where I was for that whole year." Leah shook her head remembering her shitty first apartment and even shitier job.

"How'd you start dancing?" Juice asked.

When I was nineteen I started college. Took out a shit ton of loans and quit the truck stop. Problem was feeding a baby costs money. Girl I became friends with was a dancer. Told me to try it. Problem was I couldn't let men touch me. Freaked out every time."

"What'd ya do?"

"Went to the Uni shrink and got some help. Went three times a week for a year. Started dancing two months after. I was able to only work weekends and pay for Andrew's things. Even got him into university day care while I was at class one day a week. Other days a friend would watch him. Got in touch with my folks again to."

"So therapy and you were all better?" Juice asked thinking about all the shit that was piling up in his life. Club possibly finding out he almost turned rat, cartel shit and now Pope. Hell maybe they all needed therapy.

"Not exactly. I'm better but I still keep myself off the grid even though my father could tell Marcus where I am at any time. Andrew only see's his grandparent's on his birthday and Christmas when they come down here and I haven't set foot in Minnesota for six years. Plus I refuse any of my parent's money. Any time they send some it goes into a college fund for Andrew." Leah explained carefully. In some ways she was better. She didn't freak whenever a man touched her anymore, she went on dates and she even had sex and enjoyed it but she never got close to anyone. She found she'd started to date men like the men who came into the club. Men she could control. Sadly now she found that instead of finding comfort in always being in control she was board by it. Not that she had much time to date anymore with her schedule.

"I guess so." Juice replied. Leah smiled at him before finishing cleaning up. Soon after both were in the living room watching a movie she had on DVD to pass the time until she could go to bed. Two hours later as she climbed into the hot shower again she rationalized there were worse things than having another adult in the house. As she slid under her covers she couldn't help but hope that Happy would be back soon. She grabbed two sleeping pills and shut off the light before falling asleep.

**a/n So this is still a Happy/Leah story I just felt that if I was going to tell any biker about my kid and past it'd be Juice. So that's my thoughts on that. Hope you liked it!**


	8. Riding High on an Angels Wing

**a/n Long chapter after the delay in writing it. Things have been crazy down here in Guatemala. I'm working as a volunteer with a mission and part of my job is to take groups that come here for only a week or so to the projects we work on and help them out mostly with translating. We've been buku busy this month b/c all the Universities are on spring break. Huge shout out as always to everyone who's reviewed/followed/favorited this story. You guys help keep me inspired. So please read review and enjoy!**

After Leah went to bed Juice pulled out his lap top and fired it up. He did his usual search though the local and federal databases he managed to get access to. He ran a search every few hours to make sure the Sons were staying under the proverbial radar. Nothing new popped up thank God. ATF nearly destroyed the club and Roosevelt nearly destroyed him just recently. The club may not know what he did, would never find out if he could help it but he could do his best to silently pay them back. Fuck, it was all he could do. Hell even that wasn't enough, it might never be enough. He quick plugged Leah's name into one of his program bug. This bug would scan all the major government search databases looking for anyone who searched Leah's name. FBI, local police databases, ATF, if someone searched her the bug would track the search back to the searchers computer. The club knew Galindo had people in the government it only made sense that Los Lobos had the same thing. If anyone tried to find her using typical government methods the club would know. They'd protect her. Juice liked her so far. She seemed honest, real not like most of the club whores that usually hung around.

Juice clicked a few more buttons checking the bugs he placed earlier looking for Los Lobos members in the area, mostly searching through local stuff- real estate leases, land sales. He used the same program to find the Lobo safe house yesterday. The club had the names of some of the lower ranking numbers and their families/girlfriends- one of them happened to be stupid enough to rent a house in his girl's name. Hopefully someone else would be as stupid. Juice ran a hand down his face frustrated. Nothing. He could find almost nothing, nothing to help the club, nothing to erase the guilt he felt at coming to close to betraying the club. He slammed his laptop shut and began to pace the house. He walked down the hall, looking at the photos lining the walls. A little boy smiled out of most of the frames happily. Juice smiled looking at the photos. He was impressed to say the least. Somehow Leah managed to keep her son happy. More than he could say for his own mother. After his dad took off mom turned to drugs soon his childhood was nothing more than one dealer or John after another. Fuck it, in all honesty he was exhausted and to tired to deal with this shit. He flopped on to the couch and fell in to what had become his usual troubled and fitful sleep.

~o0o~

Juice woke the next morning his back aching and his neck cramped.

"FUCK, SHIT, DAMN!" He heard from the kitchen followed by a large crash.

"What the hell?" Juice asked as he looked up from the couch, pulling his shirt back on.

"Dropped a fucking pan." Leah swore from across the way.

"Pan?" Juice asked still shaking the sleep from his eyes.

"Yes, pan- that thing you cook breakfast food in." Leah snapped. Juice stared at her wide-eyed. "Sorry, sleeping pills. I get cranky when I take them and wake up at a decent before noon-thirty time."

"Oh… well, it's alright." Juice said cautiously.

"So are you my keeper for the day? Or do I have a new body guard slash jail keeper to cook for." Leah asked forcing herself to shake the drowsiness away while trying to put a smile on her face.

"I think Chibs should be coming soon."

"The one with the scars?" Leah asked as she rummaged in the fridge for the ingredients for an omelet.

"Yeah." Juice said reaching for his laptop.

"So Juice, I spilt last night. It's your turn to share. Where did you grow up?" Leah asked trying to learn something about her latest keeper. She figured Juice would be more likely to open up to her.

"New York City in Queens." Juice said distractedly as he booted up his computer.

"Happy childhood?" She probed.

"Not really."

"You don't have siblings do you Juice?" Leah asked slightly frustrated at his lack of communication.

"Umm… no no I don't." Juice replied as he focused on his laptop.

"I can tell."

"What do you mean?" Juice asked as he finally looked up from his computer screen.

"One part girl intuition one part stripper talent." Leah replied with a small smile. Juice was saved from answering her by the knock on the door. He pulled his gun from his waistband the lethal weapon at odds with the slight blush that had crept onto his face.

"The fact that I'm becoming used to men with guns in my home frightens me a bit." Leah deadpanned as Juice looked through the peephole.

"Its Chibs." He told Leah before opening the door. The Scotsman walked into the house looking around him as he went.

"Hello brother, luv." He nodded toward Leah while he clapped Juice on the back.

"Hello Chibs, breakfast?" She asked him holding up her cutting board where she was chopping veggies.

"I wouldn't be one ta say no." Chibs replied before settling into the chair next to Juice.

"Any news?" Juice asked.

"Nope none Juicey-boy but Jax wants you over at the club house soon." Chibs told him.

"Sweet I'll leave right after breakfast. It'll take that long for my bugs to do a search." Juice ran his all of his bugs every day several times a day. The newest search would look for any new activity after the last search. "What's for breakfast?" he asked excitedly setting his laptop to the side.

"So far I'm setting up for omelets but I'm thinking of throwing pancakes into the mix if you guys are hungry enough." Leah said as she reached for a green pepper.

"Yes. I am hungry enough. Plenty hungry." Juice said excitedly.

"Could eat a horse myself love." Chibs told her.

"Pancakes and an omelet coming up." Leah said. She quickly grabbed glasses from the overhead cupboard and the juice and milk from the fridge. She set them in front of the men in her kitchen before turning back to cooking.

Less than an hour later the men were fed and Juice was on his way out, his laptop stowed safely in his bag. Leah slowly washed the dirty dishes in the sink while Chibs sat at the counter.

"So what are the rules for today?" She asked looking up from the sink.

"You gotta stick around here love. No going anywhere until we're sure its safe. If you need anything we'll send the prospect." Chibs answered.

"OK, in that case I'm getting some gardening done. I don't suppose you are dying to mow?" Leah asked semi hopefully. The riding mower broke down two months ago and neither Leah nor Sandra had bothered to fix it yet. They still had the push mower after all but Leah hated using it. The throttle was picky and it was an old heavy piece of crap. If she had to have a babysitter it might as well be as useful one.

"Not particularly love but I'll call the prospect make him do it." Chibs said pulling out his prepaid.

"Oh no don't worry about that, I was mostly joking." Leah said hurriedly she didn't want to seem as if she was taking advantage of the club.

"Don't you go and worry yourself. That's what the prospect is for- the bitch work." Chibs told her. "He'll be here in an hour."

"I'll make lemonade than." Leah said with a smile. She couldn't really complain, her lawn was getting mowed that day. Maybe she could convince them to do Sandra's lawn too. FUCK! Sandra. The very fact she hadn't been by yet proved there was a god. Sandra wasn't an idiot. In fact she was quite smart, she had to know something was up what with all the bikes and the noise and what not. Shit what the hell would she tell Sandra when she asked what was going on. Leah couldn't even explain shit to Mia and Mia was there when it happened. No she wasn't freaking out not now. She had freaked out too much in the last two days. She would just cross that bridge when she got to that point. If it got to that point. Twenty minutes later Leah knelt in the dirt weeding the garden while Chibs sat at the picnic table nursing a beer. Damn it she was going to have to send Al for more beer while she was in house arrest and more food, for sure more food. She did not plan that. Normally she cooked for herself and Andrew, not herself and two grown men.

"Leah! Leah are you back here?" Leah heard someone yelling from the front yard.

"Shit." Leah said putting down her spade.

"What is it?" Chibs asked his hand darting inside his kutte to grab his gun.

"My friend. She was babysitting Andrew Friday night when all this happened. I'm surprised she hasn't been by earlier. Fuck what can I tell her?" Leah asked Chibs close to panic.

"Tell her you met someone at the party, sent your kid with that black bitch and have been shaking it up for the past few days." Chibs answered taking his hand from his kutte.

"She'll never believe me." Leah told him.

"Got a better idea love." Chibs said as Sandra crossed into the back yard.

"Hey Sandra." Leah said slapping a smile on her face as she turned to face her friend.

"Don't bullshit me Leah. I know that smile, that's your work smile. What is going on?" Sandra demanded looking at her younger friend barely sparing the biker at the picnic table a glance.

"Nothing is going on." Leah tried to lied knowing it wouldn't do her much good. With anyone else the lie would slide from her mouth like honey. With Mia and San the words felt like lead weights on her tongue.

"Bull fucking shit. At first I thought maybe you just found a hot guy and wanted some fun, God knows you deserve it but there have been multiple bikes and people at your house, your personal phone is off and when I called your work phone Mia picked it up. Said she was staying in San Diago for a week with Andrew and you guys switched phones. And who the hell is that?" Sandra pointed over at Chibs finally acknowledging his presence.

Leah gapped at Sandra, she'd never seen her friend this worried before. Part of her felt guilty even if she knew none of this was truly her fault. Leah turned to Chibs hoping he could help her out with Sandra not knowing what to say.

"Woah now, its nothing. Leah and I here just hit it off real well and decided to have a bit of fun with out the wee one getting underfoot." Chibs said as he approached Sandra.

"I'm not buying it honey. One, there's more than one bike here more than once. Two I saw someone delivering groceries yesterday." Sandra said to Chibs before dismissing him by turning back to Leah, "I figured I'd give you a day to call me but I haven't heard a peep from you since Friday. What the hell is going on?" Sandra's tone softened at her last question, the concern in her voice seeping through.

"I…" Leah tried to think of something to say that Sandra would believe. "Fuck it. Shit went south at the party and I might be in some danger. Mia has Andrew just as a precaution and Chibs here, plus some other guys from the club are keeping an eye on me." Leah cast a nervous glance between Chibs and Sandra. At Chibs to see if she gave away to much information and at Sandra to see if she was going to blow up. Both persons were glaring at her at the moment.

"Love, careful what you say." Chibs warned.

"Careful what she says? Excuse me?" Sandra asked turning her anger to Chibs. For a moment Leah felt relief that Sandra wasn't focused on her. That quickly passed when she realized her friend was two seconds from getting into it with a biker before noon. Leah was to sober for this shit, hell she didn't think she could get drunk enough to deal with this shit.

"Club stuff love, you don't need to know." Chibs said looking at Sandra over his sunglasses.

"I don't know you from Adam, I don't know what's going on with one of my best friends, a friend who has a son. I just want an idea of what's going on." Sandra demanded.

"Get used to disappointment love." Chibs said.

"You're really saying that she cant tell me anything? Cant?"

" 'S how it is." Chibs said stubbornly.

Sandra stared at Chibs for several moments before turning away from him. "Leah, I thought we could do lunch. How about something light? We can make chicken salad now and than use the extra chicken for pasta tonight? I'm sure your guests would find that appetizing."

"Sure San. That sounds really good. Want to help me weed a bit first?" Leah asked.

"Love to. I'll run home and grab my gloves. I have some really good tomatoes we can use for lunch in the fridge." With out sparing Chibs a second glance Sandra walked back to her house. She didn't look at Chibs once or even Al when he came to mow the lawn. In her mind they didn't exist.

"I have to open the shop tomorrow but lets do a girl night tomorrow night." Sandra said to Leah as they cleaned up the kitchen after lunch. Al had just left with another grocery list to bring by in the morning and Chibs in the bathroom.

"I think I'm going to go into work tomorrow night. Andrew needs some new things." Leah answered.

"You'll be safe?" Sandra asked acknowledging the situation for the first time.

"Yeah. Someone will be with me. Need to keep busy and all." Leah answered.

"Ok, call me tomorrow than? I have some errands to run this afternoon." Sandra said as she dried her hands on the near by dishtowel. She hugged Leah before heading back to her house.

"The hell was that girly." Chibs demanded once Sandra left. Several times he tried to say something only to be completely ignored by Sandra.

"Its her way." Leah said trying to explain. "If you make her mad enough she doesn't yell or fight, you just don't exist to her anymore." Chibs looked confused so Leah tried again, "One of the other mothers in Andrew's play group found out I strip. That mom used to shop at Sandra's store. One day while shopping she said some less than nice things about me and my job. Sandra heard. When the woman tried to buy her cloths Sandra told her that her credit card had been declined and if she thought it nice to judge other people maybe she should shop somewhere else. Sandra hasn't said one word to her or looked at the women since."

"Stubborn woman." Chibs observed.

"Very much so." Leah replied. The rest of the day passed quietly. Chibs sharpened his knife and read a bike magazine while Leah read in the living room. Neither of the two felt the need to bring pointless conversation to the air when the silence was comfortable. The only words spoken were whether Chibs wanted red or white sauce with the chicken and how many people she'd be feeding this time. Around four o'clock Leah grabbed the ingredients for her better-than-sex-cake. She was getting restless in her own home a feeling she wasn't exactly comfortable with. Normally there was always something for her to be doing. Andrew needing something, studying, or getting ready for work but right now there was nothing. In all honesty having a threat hanging over her head was becoming dull. Leah didn't exactly sit still well.

"Who's staying with me tonight?" Leah asked Chibs as she worked in the kitchen.

"Should be Happy again." Chibs said glancing up from the article that caught his attention.

"Ok. Thanks." Leah felt comforted about the idea of the slightly scary biker staying with her again. If anything else she didn't doubt his ability to protect her. Or keep her imagination from taking a break.

"Do you mind if I call Mia before dinner?" Leah asked Chibs.

"Go ahead love. Just make sure you stay in here." Chibs answered her. Leah nodded her understanding and grabbed her phone to call her boy. As she hung up the phone her door was opened and Happy stormed through.

"Why the hell is this door unlocked?" Happy demanded.

"Woah brother. I'm right here. It's been quiet all day." Chibs said standing from the seldom used table, his gun in hand.

"I'm really not liking how used to guns I'm becoming." Leah announced into the room in general.

"To damn bad." Happy said irritably. "Door needs to be locked." On some level Happy knew he was taking out his frustrations on the dancer. No news on the Lobo house, no news on Galindo helping in sorting this shit out. Happy was annoyed and quite frankly pissed off, this shit had to be sorted out.

"Cool it brother. You ok here tonight?" Chibs asked sensing Happy's anger.

"I'm good." Happy snapped even more annoyed that his own brother hinted that he couldn't do his job.

"Alright. What were you saying was for dinner love?" Chibs asked Leah.

For her part Leah had silently observed the two of them, at Chibs' words she snapped her face towards him.

"Chicken pasta in a red sauce with better-than-sex-cake for dessert." Leah replied moving to the kitchen to lay out the plates.

"Better-than-sex-cake?" Happy asked raising an eyebrow.

"Homemade German chocolate cake with chocolate and caramel sauce melted in the middle, topped with more chocolate and caramel sauce topped whipped cream frosting with chocolate candy pieces crushed on top of that." Leah explained as she pulled the cake from the fridge. The two men stared at her in disbelieve. "My life is threatened I'm allowed comfort food." Leah decided the best way to diffuse the tension in her home would be to ignore it. Not a perfect plan but she strongly doubted the men in her kitchen gave two shits about her opinion anyway. Dinner passed much the same as every other meal in the last two days, Leah made some attempt at small talk Chibs answered and Happy stayed silent. Chibs soon left and Happy and Leah were alone in the house.

"How does a movie sound?" Leah asked him not wanting to spend an awkward silent night in her own home.

"No chick shit." Happy answered barely glancing up from where he sat cleaning his gun at the coffee table again, this time with a cloth underneath. Leah smiled to herself and pulled out one of her favorites.

"I think I can handle no chick shit." She tossed over her shoulder as she put in the Dark Knight DVD. While the main menu screen loaded she ducked into her bedroom to grab her knitting.

"What the fuck?" Happy asked upon seeing her carrying her needles and yarn.

"I like to keep my hands busy." Leah shrugged, "I usually knit while I watch TV. Have you ever seen this movie?" Happy shook his head. "I think you'll like it, it's my favorite."

Once the movie ended Happy turned to face Leah. "That's your favorite movie?" He asked impressed.

"Yeah, Harvey Dent was the greatest villain ever created by comic books." Leah answered. "The Joker was insane. Just like Alfred said, he just wanted to watch the world burn. Two Face was different. He started out the visible hero, the one that they could depend on, look up to, and slowly everything that made him good, that made him fight left him. He lost Rachel, control over the city, everything. So he had a choice. Face it or allow himself to descend into madness and by becoming mad taking control again."

"Cant control much with a coin toss." Happy commented.

"He controlled the choice, the place, the timing, everything but the final outcome while trying to remain unbiased and therefor un-blamed by using the coin. He cant choose the outcome. He was basically recreating the courtroom. He chose the evidence and the witnesses but didn't control the final outcome. His way of finding order in the chaos yet still absolving himself as he never makes the choice." Leah argued. "The descend of the idealistic hero into the painful truth of reality. He couldn't handle it."

Happy nodded slowly, her words making sense. "I liked it." He decided about the movie.

"I thought you would." Leah smiled at him, a real smile he noticed.

"Juice said you never pressed charges on Marcus. Why not?" Happy said to her as she got up to put her knitting away.

"Does the entire club know my personal life now?" Leah asked. Happy shrugged while waiting for her to answer. "Why does your vest say Unholy One?" She asked instead.

"It's called a kutte." Happy said not answering.

"You answer mine and I'll answer yours." Leah told him, "I'm going to read a bit before bed. You know where things are. Let me know if you need anything. The guest room is still made up."

After reading for a while Leah shut off her light and went to sleep. She didn't bother reaching for her sleeping pills as she barely set her book down before slipping into the unconsciousness of sleep. Out in the living room Happy set his kutte on the chair and pulled his tee shirt over his head.

At two am Happy woke up to screaming coming from the master bedroom. He grabbed his gun from the coffee table silently treaded down the hall. Reaching the door he threw it open to see Leah tossing and turning in her sleep, crying out. He tucked his gun into the waistband of his jeans and bent over to shake Leah.

"Don't touch me!" She cried out before realizing she wasn't trapped in her dream anymore. "Happy what are you doing in here?" She asked as she woke up more.

"You were screaming in your sleep. Thought someone was in here."

Leah blinked sleep away from her eyes recalling her nightmare. She looked at Happy, the smooth tattooed plains of his chest moving toward the defined muscles of his abs. "I'm alright, it was just a nightmare." She said.

Happy nodded and turned to leave, going back to the couch.

"Happy," Leah said to his retreating back. He turned to look at her over his shoulder. "I think I need option three right now."

**a/n2 I know you hate me but think of how much you'll love me later.**


	9. While The Devil Sings Inside My Head

**a/n I know I'm updating faster than normal but this chapter seemed to fall from my finger tips. One reviewer mentioned that there are some minor spelling and grammar errors. When I do the final edit in FanFic doc my computer seems to think I want to be spelling in Spanish... So due to that and just to make sure my work is the best it can be I am looking for a beta reader. Please PM me if you are interested. With out further ado here is the next chpt. Thank you so much for all those who have reviewed/favorited/followed this story. Especially the guest reviewers who I cannot thank personally.**

"_I could really use option three right now."_

"Thought option three required no names." Happy said taking a good long look at the dancer as she lay in her bed. The upper part of her body-clad only in a sport bra- lay exposed with the blankets tangled at her waist.

"Cant always get what you want. Besides I don't know your real name." Leah told him.

"Real name is Happy." He told her considering her proposal. "_Fast, angry, naked sex with no strings and preferably no names exchanged" _her words the day before ran through his mind.

"Really? Well I'll take what I can get in that case. Either way I'm changing these sheets and taking a shower. If you'd like to help me receive some tension feel free to join me, if not you know where the beer is and the guest bedroom." Leah climbed out of bed and began walking to the shower.

Leah ran the water hot and strong trying to clear the memory of her nightmare from her mind.

"_We're coming for you."_

"Vamos a encontrarte."

"_Can't hide little girl." _

"_We'll find you. No matter where you go."_

_The voices ran together. None of them showing a face but whispering in her ear. Leah clutched Andrew closer to her. The voices came closer and closer._

_A gunshot rang into the air. Leah screamed and clutched Andrew closer to her chest trying to protect her son with her body. But something was wrong. Something felt wet. She looked down to see scarlet blooming from her son's tiny chest._

"Andrew! No!" she screamed trying to stop the blood flow from pouring out.

"_Mommy?" Andrew asked, "It hurts Mommy. Make it stop hurting. Please Mommy, I'm scared."_

"_Its ok Andrew, it's going to be ok. Just hold on baby." Leah sobbed grasping her son._

"_I'm cold Mommy." Andrew whispered pitifully._

"_We're coming for you." The voice said. Leah looked around hoping to see who did this to her son, to put a face to the voice. To know whom she had to find to get her revenge. But she could see nothing. Could only hear the cruel laughter that followed echoing again and again bouncing off the walls._

The next thing she remembered was Happy waking her up. And her offering him unattached, uncomplicated sex. She just needed something to push away the images of her son dying in her arms. Push away the sound of the laughing voice. Now standing in the shower, the hot water scalding her sweating body, Leah couldn't tell what she wanted more, Happy to take her up on her offer or for him to ignore her offer as mindless babble one makes after sleep.

The bathroom door opened and shut. The shower curtain was pushed roughly aside and another body joined her in the hot spray.

"You change your mind you say so now or there's no going back." Happy's rough voice rasped in her ear as he pushed her front up against the shower wall. His body pressing against hers.

"Can you deliver?" Leah demanded her breathing becoming shallow and rapid. Every bit of tension she buried for the past few days went straight down south.

Instead of answering her Happy reached one arm around her body to grasp her breast pinching her tit tightly and sliding his other hand going down to start circling her clit. Leah gasped out loud as the nerve endings fired in rapid succession.

"I'll take that as a yes." She gasped out. Leah reached behind her to grasp him, giving him a few confident strokes before turning herself around to face him. Her eyes were met by his tattooed chest, for a moment she was distracted by the display of colors painted on his body.

"Not here." She said as she ran a hand down his muscled chest. "I want to ride you." She needed to be in control, needed to be on top as she rode him into oblivion. Leah shut off the water before stepping out of the shower. She didn't bother to grab a towel before leading Happy to the guest bedroom. In the year she'd been in her house another man had never been in her bed. The first time wasn't going to be in sheets soaked in the sweat of a nightmare.

"Here?" He asked as she pushed him down on to the bed.

"Clean sheets in here." Leah said as she climbed on top of him. Moving quickly she impaled herself on top of him, bracing her arms against his shoulders. She set a pace, slow at first before slowly speeding up.

Fuck the bitch was good, rolling her hips against him while clutching him tightly with her inner muscles. Tiny hands scraping short nails down his chest. Happy gripped her hips tightly as she rode him as if her life depended on it. Happy fucked a lot of women and he could tell when a woman was fucking to impress, fucking for her own pleasure or fucking to forget something. The bitch on top of him was fucking to forget. He let her ride for a while, feel like she was in control before he grabbed her leg and flipped her on to her stomach and pounded her from behind.

It wasn't sweet, it wasn't gentle, it was fast, rough and unyielding. It was exactly what Leah needed. Their already wet bodies slipped and slid over each other in a demented race for relief. She cried out loud as her body came closer and closer to pushing her over the edge. Leah grasped at the sheets, clenching them tightly as she screamed. Behind her Happy grunted as he came close to his own finish.

Leah could feel her orgasm building deep inside her. She pushed against Happy with each thrust he drove into her body deeper and deeper. It built and built in her core until her orgasm ripped through her. A scream tore out of her body, loud and savage. Happy continued to drive into her as her walls clenched around him. Minutes later his own orgasm followed he grunted loudly as he pulled out his cum spraying over her back. Leah collapsed beneath him as he braced himself on the headboard. They stayed like that for a moment before Leah pushed herself up.

"Well I definitely need that shower now." She panted as she began to recover a bit of her breath. She rolled her body off the bed and rose to her feet looking back down at Happy. He laid spread eagle on the bed on his back. Leah could see his muscled chest heaving slightly from the athletic sex.

Happy for his part looked over at her. Even with him lying on the bed she still looked tiny. Her hair hung in long ropes around her breasts and her pale skin was still flushed red from exertion. He could see where his hands had dug into her hips and was more than willing to bet the morning light would show hand shaped bruises. He didn't feel bad though if he looked down at his own chest he knew he'd see scratch marks trailing his tattoo's.

"Smiley faces?" Leah asked gesturing to his collection of marks above his left hip.

"A bird?" Happy asked gesturing to the flying bird tattooed in the crevice of her pelvis and flying up her hip.

"A robin." Leah corrected. "Clean sheets are in the cupboard if you want to sleep in here." Leah called over her shoulder as she retreated. "I will be in my room if you want rounds two and three."

Leah walked back into her bedroom and glanced between the bathroom door and the pile of nightmare induced, sweat soaked linin at the bottom of her bed.

"Fuck it." She said to herself before moving back into the shower. She quickly washed her body and hair before getting out. Pulling her long hair into a quick braid she grabbed fresh sheets out of the cupboard. She quickly remade the bed in a haphazard fashion before collapsing down asleep exhausted from the night's athletics. She awoke sometime later to a rough voice in her ear.

"Thought you said you wanted round two. Think you're up for it girl?"

Still half asleep she smiled as a weight settled on top of her back.

"Lets see what you got." She said before arching up to meet him.

~o0o~

The next morning Leah awoke in her bed alone. She stretched luxuriously recalling rounds two and three the night before each the same as the first, rough, angry and fast. Her muscles stretched out stiff and sore from the pervious nights activities. Leah grabbed one of her many oversized tee shirts and padded her way into the kitchen on a hunt for food.

Happy sat in the living room cleaning his gun again. The smooth motion of running the cleaning oils across the cold metal kept his hands busy and his mind free. Jax called early in the morning, only to say there was no news. Same as every other damn day since this bullshit started. Happy acted, reacted even to events, he obeyed his president and right now his orders were to sit and wait. Problem was he didn't fucking wait well. He wouldn't lie, nailing the dancer last night felt damn good. What with all the regime change, cartel bullshit and Damon Pope issues he hadn't had time for anything more than a morning blowjob from a club whore. The slight sound of footsteps falling caused him to look up. The dancer walked into the open kitchen wearing nothing but a large tee shirt that fell to her mid-thighs. How the fuck did a bitch that short get legs like that.

"Who's my keeper today?" She asked as she pushed her sleep/sex-mussed hair from her face.

"Juice." He replied staring at her before turning back to cleaning his gun.

"Waffles than for breakfast." Leah said while turning in the kitchen. The night Juice stayed over he mentioned he liked waffles. As she moved around the kitchen her muscles ached and pulled and seemed to be singing _we had sex, we had sex, we had several rounds of athletic sex!_ She quickly made the waffle batter from memory, easy enough, as it was Andrew's favorite and ignored the pull of her muscles.

"Hey Hap, Jax told me right before I left he wants you over at the clubhouse today after breakfast. Told him he should just stop by here and get some food for his trouble but he said Tara would kill him if he was eating another woman's- oh hi Leah" Juice cut himself off as he walked in seeing Leah clad in nothing but a tee shirt.

"Hey Juice. Waffles?" Leah asked holding up the batter.

"Uh… yeah sure. Thanks Leah." Juice said blushing a bit as her tee-shirt rode up a bit.

"Perfect. I'll just put this one on and go get dressed. If the timer starts beeping just take the waffle out of the waffle maker." Leah said as she expertly ladled the batter in to the waffle maker her parents had given her the first time they visited. She felt the familiar twinge of regret she always did when using it. She may speak to her parents now but she didn't know if she could ever forgive them for not believing her. Or forgive her Daddy for still working for the man who raped her.

"Fuck man, you tap that?" Juice asked Happy. The brothers weren't exactly known to be quite about conquests.

Happy considered not answering for a bit, just letting the younger man stew but slowly his face broke out into a smirk and he nodded.

"Damn, you claiming her or she still up for grabs?" The younger man asked. She wasn't a Croweater so typical club rules were a bit fuzzy. If Happy claimed her she became off limits for good, if not any brother could try.

"Not claiming her." Happy said, "Jax say what he want?"

"Yeah, got a shipment with the Irish and info on the cartel." Juice said.

"Alright. I'll head over soon."

"Juice, Happy, Jax said I could still go to work. Jim just texted me to see if I was coming in tonight- is that ok?" Leah asked as she reentered the room in a comfy pair of jeans and a nice blouse.

"Presidents call." Happy said finishing putting his gun back together.

"Should I call and ask?" Leah questioned as she ladled out the next waffle.

"No." Happy said. "I'll text Juice and he'll tell you."

"But why-" Leah started.

"No." Happy cut her off. She opened her mouth again like she planned on saying something but before she could her phone began to ring.

"Its Mia." Leah told the men sitting in her living room. "Can I answer it?

"Go ahead." Juice said while Happy nodded again.

"Mia, hi, is everything alright?" She asked a bit worriedly.

"No everything's fine. Andrew just wanted to talk to you." Mia quickly explained.

"Oh ok, well can I talk to him?" Leah asked.

"Here he is."

"Hi Mommy!" Andrew voice came over the phone. "I miss you Mommy. When are Auntie Mia and me coming back?"

"Auntie Mia and I honey, its Auntie Mia and I." Leah answered her heart breaking at hearing her son's pitiful plea. "And soon baby. You guys can come home soon. I'm just working a lot this week." Her voice cracked a bit at the last word. Her son had never been away from her for more than a night at a time. Only to stay with friends for the night and what not.

"But I want to come home now." Her son demanded.

"Aren't you having fun with Auntie Mia? What are you guys going to do today?" Leah asked trying to get her son's mind off of missing home.

"She said we'd go to the beach." Andrew mumbled.

"The beach! That sounds fun! Are you packing a picnic?" Leah kept her voice carefully cheerful.

"Auntie Mia says if she can't cook in the house she can't cook on a beach. We're buying hotdogs she said." Andrew told her. "Why can't I come home Mommy."

"I'm working this week honey." Leah forced her voice not to betray the fact she was almost crying.

"Can't Auntie Mia watch me at home?" Andrew asked not understanding why.

"No baby, not this time." Leah said as a tear leaked from the corner of her eye. "I love you though baby. You'll be back here soon."

"But I want to come now." Andrew wined breaking Leah's heart.

"I know baby, I want you home too but I have to go or I'll be late for my first shift at work. I'll call you tonight and you can tell me all about going to the beach today ok baby?" Leah told him keeping her voice as even as she could.

"Ok mommy. Love you." Andrew said pathetically.

"Love you to baby." Leah hung up and stared at the prepaid in her hand.

"Are you alright?" Juice asked her cautiously while taking a bite from his waffle.

"No I'm not fucking alright. I just did two things I promised I'd never do. Lied to my son about something important and let him think that work was more important than him being happy. I'm not even close to fucking alright." Leah burst out channeling her anger at the young biker. "FUCK. What the fuck happened to my life." She screamed before swiping her hand across the counter knocking the cups and silverware to the ground along with the rest of the waffle batter. For a moment Leah stared at the mess before turning on her heel and walking over it and out of the room.

The two bikers in the kitchen heard a door slam followed by the hot spray of the shower turning on.

"Should we do something…" Juice started to say.

"Stay." Happy told his brother before standing up.

"Ok."

Happy walked straight into the master bathroom and pulled open the curtain.

"Can't hide in here all the time." He told Leah.

Leah looked at him, her face blotchy from the combination of crying and scalding water her hair hanging in pathetic tangles around her face.

"Are you a father?" She asked him not bothering to hide her tears or her nakedness.

"Nope." Happy told her as he stared at her, his eyes drawn to the bruises he'd left on her hips the night before.

"Then you don't understand. You can't understand." She told him as she started to turn away. Happy grabbed her shoulder and stopped her.

"What I understand is that you just disrespected a brother and that doesn't fly in this world." He told her seriously.

"Your world, not mine. I'm not a part of it."

"You are now. Mayans, Sons, Damon Pope the Galindo fucking Cartel all know who you are. This is your world now to and you gotta play by its rules. You're in a rare spot, not a club whore not an Old Lady you gotta learn the rules quick in this world." Happy told her, laying out the truth.

"I don't want it. I don't need it. I just want to be left alone." Leah shot back.

"Too late for that now. You don't know who Pope is? Who the Mayans are? Who the Cartel is? Ask your head hunter friend. She knows about them. She'll tell you. There's no escaping this world. So get out of the fucking shower, put on some cloths, makeup or what ever the hell it is you bitches do and get back out there." Happy explained to her. He wanted her to understand the reality of the world that had been thrown in her face.

Leah looked him straight in the eye, "And if I refuse?"

"Than this world will destroy you and your son and there is nothing we can do to protect you from it." Happy told her bluntly.

"I don't like being pushed around you know." Leah said.

"So don't be. Just learn the rules and play by them."

"Someone once told me you have to play by others rules until you have enough power to make them play by your rules."

"Smart man."

"He handed me a spiked wine glass ten minutes later." Leah said, "Give me ten minutes and I'll be out."

Exactly seven minutes later Leah emerged from her bedroom in tight dark blue jeans and a form fitting blood red tank top and a pair of her "kick ass girl power heels" on her feet and a slightly subdued version of her work makeup on her face her hair hanging in a tight braid down her shoulder. If she was going to be thrown into this new world she needed to feel tough.

"Sorry about that. Let me quick clean this up and I'll make up a new batch. Al is stopping by later for another grocery list?" She asked Juice.

"Uh… yeah." Juice answered.

"Good. I need to do laundry today and would like to rig up the clothesline out back. I was hoping he could help me if he was already coming by." Leah smiled and began cleaning up the mess.

Happy watched her as she moved around the kitchen chatting with a cautious Juice. Just as he'd seen her do several times in the last few days the bitch straightened her spine and continued on. If her smile was a little too tight around the corners he doubted many could tell. Strong bitch, he thought.

**A/n I also linked the recipe for better than sex cake to my page. It is amazing and I strongly recommend trying it.**


	10. Lessons Learned

**a/n Hello everyone! Happy Easter for those who celebrate Easter and Happy Sunday to those who do not. Today I went back in the previous chapters and made some slight formatting changes and also corrected where Juice said he was from the Broncs (he's really from Queens, my bad.) None of the changes really change the story just made things a bit neater to the eye. This chapter jumps around quite a bit but I think it's fairly easy to follow. I hope you all enjoy it. Thanks so much to everyone who read and reviewed and favorited and followed this story. Big thanks to guest reviewers as I cannot thank you personally. So enjoy the next chapter.**

By the time Happy left for wherever the club house Leah had cleaned the kitchen, gathered all the laundry that needed to be done and had sat down to start a new grocery list. For his part Juice just say quietly on his computer hoping nothing else would happen. He'd been surprised to see Leah freak out like that. She'd been so composed the other night. He didn't know how to handle a woman freaking out, or pissed off, or scared, or well anything other than calm or wrapping her lips around his dick. Hell he was surprised Happy of all people calmed her down at all.

"Juice?" Hearing his name Juice nervously looked up from his computer to see Leah looking cautiously at him, "I'm sorry I yelled at you this morning."

"Oh well it's alright." Juice answered not really knowing what else to say. Leah nodded at him before turning back to her grocery list. Juice turned back to his laptop, making sure all of his bugs were working.

"What's an Old Lady?" Leah asked again, this time not looking up from her list.

Juice looked at her surprised. Of all the questions he did not expect that one. When he didn't answer her Leah raised her eyes to meet his.

"Happy told me that I was in your world now, I had to learn the rules. He said I wasn't a club whore or an Old Lady," Leah explained, "I don't know anything about your world. I don't know what an Old Lady is."

"An Old Lady is a members wife or serious girlfriend. An Old Lady wears a members mark." Juice tried to explain.

"His mark?" Leah asked.

"A tattoo, in SAMCRO the women get tattooed with a crow."

"Sounds a bit Neanderthal to me." Leah commented.

"It's a sign of respect. Lets other clubs and patched members know that the woman is taken and has standing in the club." Juice gestured vaguely in the air as if hoping the explanation would appear.

"So its visible?"

"Not always. I've never seen Tara's. But once a girl is inked it's known that she's taken. A member can claim her before that, letting other brothers know she's off limits but the ink means she has respect, that a brother trusts her with telling her some club shit."

"Who's Tara?" Leah asked trying to absorb the information.

"Jax's Old Lady. They've been together for years, since she was fifteen." Juice told her.

"Oh ok." Leah looked back down at her list and for a bit Juice thought that twenty questions was over for now.

"What's a club whore?" Leah asked.

"A croweater." Juice answered.

"What?"

"Most clubs call them sweetbutts but we call them croweater's because we're SAMCRO."

"But what do they do." Leah asked, she had a decent idea but wanted to be sure.

"They sleep with members, and prospects, sometimes hang arounds. They're usually at parties and sometimes and random dinners, if held at the clubhouse. They help with the cooking and cleaning to." Juice said pushing his laptop to the side. His bugs were running and didn't need any help from him.

"Why?" Leah asked, she might be free and easy with some of her morals but she couldn't imagine just sleeping with anyone plus their friends.

"Some want to become an Old Lady and figure fucking a member will get them there, some are just having fun. The club gives croweaters some protection. If we go into lockdown they come to. If they're in major trouble because of club shit we help them out to."

"What's lockdown?" Leah asked setting her list aside. Juice sighed and rubbed his Mohawk. "Is it ok that I'm asking questions? I just want to know the basics so I don't make any huge mistakes…" Leah said quickly.

"It's alright. Lockdown is what happens if shit gets messy. All family and friends go to the clubhouse for a while." Juice told her.

"Can you tell me about the club? Not everything, nothing that could get anyone in trouble, I don't want to know details. But just enough that I don't make any mistakes. If I have to be a part of this world I want to know the rules." Leah's voice sounded small and nervous. Juice stared at her, somehow seeing her like this was worse than seeing her pissed off. Pissed off he could understand, small and scared like this reminded him too much of himself only weeks ago.

"Alright, I'll give you the basics. Nothing more than that though." Juice told her.

'That's fair, now Jax is President right?" Leah asked.

"Yeah, he is. Bobby is Vice President, Chibs is Sargent at Arms, Opie is secretary." Juice told her.

"Ok but what is a Sargent at Arms?" Leah asked. Juice spent the next hour or so giving Leah a quick rundown of the club.

"Ok I'm not an Old Lady, I'm not a croweater, what am I?" Leah asked an hour later after learning the basics of the club. It seemed that the only women in the club were fucking one or all of the men.

"Not sure in all honestly. Friend of the club I'm guessing but that has to come from Jax to be official." Juice shrugged.

~o0o~

"Hey Hap." Jax said as Happy killed his bike in the clubhouse lot.

"Hey Prez. Juice said you wanted to see me. Anything new?" Happy asked as he walked over.

"Yeah, shipment from the Irish came in. I called Galindo about it. They don't want to move the shipment until this Lobo bullshit is cleaned up. We finally got the cartel backing our play. We're moving on the Lobo house tonight. I want you there. We're going to have to question a few of them. Gonna need your help with that."

"I'll be there. What time?" Happy asked excited that finally the club could take some sort of action.

"We meet here at nine, move in at ten." Jax said.

"I'll tell Leah she can't work tonight." Happy replied.

"Na let her go in. Tig can work baby-sitting duty. He's wound too tight for this tonight." Jax decided.

"Alright, I'll let her know." Happy said smiling at the thought of Tig being put on babysitting duty. "Got anything for me while I'm here?"

"Yeah, go talk to my mom. She's throwing a fit about some towing order." Jax told him and waved him off.

Happy wandered over to the garage office. Gemma stood in the small space surrounded by papers; her reading glasses perched precariously on her nose. Her black long sleeve shirt dipped severely into her aging cleavage as she balanced on four-inch stilettos.

"It really isn't that damn hard to fill out some god damn paper work." She said not looking up from the papers in her hand. Happy chose not to answer. There were few women in this world that could put the fear of God into him and Gemma just happened to be one of them. "We are still running a business you know." Gemma looked up and over her reading glasses at Happy standing in the doorway. "Good you're here. Tell me about the gash."

"Jax said you had a towing order for me?" Happy asked.

"Yes, after you tell me about what happened Friday night." Gemma demanded one hand on her hip. Happy shrugged, Gemma maybe in charge of the garage but she was still only an Old Lady. It was up to Jax or Clay to keep her informed. Not him.

"Should ask Jax about that." He said so he didn't overstep his bounds with is president.

"Looks to me like I'm asking you." Gemma remarked. Happy sat silently figuring it to be safer than answering. They stood in a slight standoff for several moments before Gemma thosed her hands in the air in defeat.

"Sooner or later one of you is going to fill me in. I want to meet her by the way. Sooner rather than later you can tell that to my son. Take this. Flat tire out on the highway. Needs a tow in. Go." Gemma thrust the tow order in his face. Happy took the tow order from Gemma and went out to the tow truck.

"Oye, prospect your with me." Happy called across the yard.

"But I was supposed to go over to Leah's, pick up another grocery list." Al stuttered.

"After we do this tow. Hurry up." Happy commanded as he fired off a text to Juice.

"Yes sir." Al said as he hopped into the other side of the cab.

~o0o~

"Thank you Juice." Leah said. "Has Happy texted you about me working tonight?"

"Yeah just got an answer from him. Jax gave it the ok. Tig's going with you." Juice told her looking back up from his phone.

"Oh, ok." Leah said. "Will he be spending the night to?" She asked cautiously, sure she'd never had a real conversation with Tig but she had a gut feeling that something was off with him. She wasn't sure exactly what it was, maybe the slightly off look in his eyes or the way he held his rather creepy smile just a bit to tight but she'd be willing to bet quite a lot of money that the man was three seconds away from snapping. She didn't want to be around when and if that happened.

"Probably, what time do you head to work?" Juice asked not picking up on the lack of enthusiasm in her voice.

"I need to be there no later than five or I pay a late fee." Leah told him.

"What's a late fee?" Juice asked.

"I pay the bar a stage fee to dance. If I show up on time I pay twenty bucks to dance for the night. If I'm late I pay forty. Plus I usually tip my bartender a good twenty." Leah explained.

"Why do you tip the bartender?" Juice asked.

"Good manners, he'll recommend new customers to me, give me tips on who's drinking what and how much of it. Plus we have a standing deal that he makes all my drinks virgin unless I order them when I'm on my own at the bar." Leah said.

"Why do you want to know what customers are drinking?"

"Because," Leah shrugged, "what a person drinks can give you a clue to how they are. Plus you can slide up next to them and just happen to order the same thing their drinking and use it as a conversation starter. Stripping is a lot more than just shaking your ass. But I'm actually going to go get started on laundry." Leah walked out of the room her hips smoothly swishing behind her.

~o0o~

Nine o' clock sharp Happy stood in the clubhouse parking lot, to his right stood Opie and Bobby, to his left Jax, Juice and Chibs. Alvarez and his VP stood with the Sons silently and seven Galindo soldiers made up the remaining men.

"Ok plan is we go in strong. Take the men outside right away, get any women and children into a different room. We let them go." Jax began.

"What!" a Galindo member shouted out, "We just gonna let the bitches and their brats leave?"

"That's exactly what we're going to do. We take their men, Lobos expect that, understand that. In a war you loose soldiers. We kill women and children they're going to come for our blood whether we want them to or not. They'll have to in order to send a message that they're not weak and can protect their own."

"So you wanna make us look weak" The soldier called out again.

"No I wanna make us smart. We solve this with as little of our blood spilt. Now Romeo told you to follow my lead. Let any women and children go, keep the Lobo's members alive." Jax smirked at the men before him, "After all dead men don't say a word and we want these ass holes to sing. Juice break it down for us."

"OK, so the house is on the north out skirts of Charming, toward Lodi not Oakland. Both lots on either side of it are clear so there shouldn't be any nosy neighbors around. If we park a few streets down and go in on foot they shouldn't be able to hear us. I was able to hack into some of the Lobo's credit card records- I figured if they were stupid enough to rent the place in a girl friends name they might be stupid enough to use their own cards. I didn't find any surveillance equipment purchased but that doesn't really mean anything. They could have paid cash. Thing is even if they do we should be able to spot them easily." Juice explained.

"We go in strong. Guns out. Don't shoot unless you have to. I want them alive for now. We need to find out if there are any more traitors. Everybody understand?" Jax asked looking at each man in the parking lot. One by one they all nodded. "Good lets get this shit show over with." Jax ran his hand down his stubble as he walked toward his bike. They needed tonight to go perfectly. While they were hitting the Lobo safe house here in Charming Galindo would be hitting them back home in Mexico. The combination of the hits should focus Lobo attention away from Charming and back across the boarder. After that the only shit storm he still had left to clean up was Damon fucking Pope.

"Oye, Jax." Alvarez flagged him down quickly, "When this is over I want to talk to the dancer girl. I know Sons are protecting her."

Jax nodded at the request. It was a fair enough request. After all she exposed two traitors in the Mayans. "I'll set it up." He told Alvarez.

"Gracias amigo." Alvarez said as he mounted his bike.

"Lets roll boys!" Jax yelled as he started his own bike. One by one they pulled out of the lot and onto the street. They rode the short few miles to the house and killed their bikes a couple of streets away. One by one the outlaws slowly began to slink toward the house.

"Juice, you see anything?" Jax asked his young intelligence officer.

"Nothing that shows any electronic surveillance. Not a for sure they don't have any but I'm not spotting anything." Juice told his president scanning the area carefully.

"Alright boys lets do this." Jax commanded. The Sons, Mayans and Galindo soldiers began to advance on the quiet house.

~o0o~

"Ok, when we get to the club it'll still be closed to customers," Leah told Tig as the wire haired man sat at her counter eating the spaghetti she'd made for dinner. "You'll have to wait until about five to come in. Please don't act like you know me."

"Why not doll, don't wanna be seen with a big bad biker?" Tig drawled out the words as he took another bite. Damn the idiot was right bitch could cook.

"That partially, if customers think I'm attached to you its harder for me to get dances and make my money. I'm aiming for 250 tonight and wanna get out of there by midnight." Leah said tightly. The man put her on edge.

"What if I want a lap dance? As a thank you, you know for babysitting and all." Tig asked leering at her.

"You'll have to get one from one of the other girls. If we need to talk flag me down and I'll come to you at the bar like you're any other customer." Leah said firmly while still keeping a respectful tone in her voice, Happy's words played back in her head along with the information Juice gave her earlier that day.

"And this is why I beat hookers." Tig sighed.

Leah stared at him for a bit completely unsure of how to respond. She decided retreating would be the best course of action.

"I'm going to quick go get ready. Excuse me." Leah brought her plate to the sink and quickly retreated back to her bathroom. Normally she just got ready at the club in the basement dressing rooms but with Andrew staying with Mia plus Juice told her not to be alone at the club for too long. Getting ready at home just seemed easier. In her bathroom Leah took deep calming breaths. She grabbed her make up bag and began to put the layers of make up she wore to work. Twenty minutes later she was ready to go. As she walked back down the hallway she began to take her hair out of its tight braid letting it fall in to rumpled waves down her back.

"Ok I'm ready." Leah announced as she reentered the kitchen.

"Ok. Lets go." Tig responded pushing himself off the seat.

"Wait, can you leave your vest here?" Leah asked.

"Why the fuck do you think I would leave my kutte here?" He demanded.

"Anonymity? You'll draw less attention." Leah suggested.

"When hell fucking freezes over." Tig told her. "Lets go."

"Ok, let me grab my keys." Leah hefted her dance bag over her shoulder and grabbed her keys out of the shell on the table near the door.

Leah arrived at the club minutes before the clock ticked over to five pm.

"Cutting it close today Delilah." Jim the club manager commented as she walked in.

"I know Jim, lost track of time. Don't worry I'll be up before my first stage set. She walked briskly toward the board where the dancers listed their names to add hers to the list. So far only three girls had their names up. "How many girls are booked tonight?"

"Eh boss booked fifteen so about seven of you will actually show up." Jim said looking up from his list.

"Thanks, I'll be dressed and up in five." Leah said heading for the basement changing area. "Oh hey, if you end up cutting girls I'd like to go home at midnight." She paused at the top of the stairs to tell Jim.

"We'll see how the night goes." Jim told her, this time not bothering to look up. Leah nodded her understanding and said a quick prayer that the night would be uneventful. She honestly didn't know if she could handle any more surprises.


	11. Keep Your Friends Close

**A/n So so so sorry its been so long. First we ended up moving houses down here and our new house doesn't have internet yet and then we had a group of almost twenty surgeons, doctors, nurses, OR people and other people associated with medical missions come down for a week to do operations for free in our clinic. Basically I've been running around like a mad woman. But here's an extra long chapter to make up for it. **

**Thank you everyone who's read and reviewd and favorited this story. I know this past week and a half I've missed thanking some people personally. So here's a big thank you to everyone!**

Leah was having a shit night and she knew it. The bar was damn near empty- even for a Monday night- and she was off her game. She'd been working for two fucking hours and hadn't managed to land a single lap dance. Still she made at least fifty bucks off her stage sets. She knew the only reason she was getting tipped at all because she was on top dancing form. Every time she climbed on that god forsaken black stage she threw every bit of fear, anger and frustration at her fucking life into the music. She knew when she danced angry she danced hot but if she couldn't land a couple of lap dances she would hardly break even at all tonight much less get some to tuck aside. Her mind went to the envelope full of cash that was now sitting in her wall safe. There was enough in there to cover them for along time but Leah didn't want to depend on that. Something could always happen, Andrew could get sick, or the car could break down, something. She'd need the money then. Once this all died down and went away she'd put part of it in a CD, let it collect interest. The rest could sit in her very expensive fire proof safe. Just in case. Just in case Marcus ever came and she decided she wanted to disappear again.

After glancing at the clock for the hundredth time in five minutes Leah decided to give up for a bit. She glanced over at the table where Tig had parked himself. True to her request he hadn't so much as glanced at her twice. Ever so often he'd go tip a couple bucks at the stage and get some tits rubbed in his face. A couple of girls had tried to come chat him up but all of them ended up walking away after a few minutes with a disgusted look on their faces. Leah could only guess what the wired haired man said to them. Still he was the only semi-familiar face in the bar aside from her co-workers and she knew he wouldn't be trying to take her home for the night.

"Hey," She said as she slid into the barstool next to him.

"Thought I wasn't supposed to know you." Tig said to her as he watched one of the girls on stage.

"I kno, I'm pretending to chat you up." Leah told him as she fixed her flirting smile on her face and acted like there wasn't a place in the world she'd rather be. Anyone who looked over at them would see nothing more than a stripper trying to make her rent.

"How the fuck does she make any money?" Tig asked still staring at the stage. Leah glanced up to see who was dancing. An older woman, a few pounds over weight with tits that were starting to sag a bit danced on stage. She was clearly years past her prime and held the slightly jaded edge a stripper wore when she'd been in the business to long.

"Bianca has a very specific clientele." Leah said. Bianca was one of the few women Leah really enjoyed working with. A nurse by day the forty-year-old dancer had been working the pole for about twenty years, day job didn't support two kids of her own and three step kids. Sometimes the two of them tag teamed off each other. Some guys got off on watching the older seasoned stripper "teach" the brand new Delilah how to give a proper lap dance. Of course the gentlemen would pay each of them full price for the privilege.

"What the fuck does that mean?" Tig demanded still staring at Bianca as she flexed her pectoral muscles to make her tits bounce in circles.

"What's your favorite booze?" Leah asked.

"Tequila, why?" Tig asked finally turning his attention to her.

"Ok so say Mia over there is tequila, Bianca we'll label scotch. So you don't like scotch, you wont buy it. But you will buy tequila. Well look at that guy." Leah pointed to a younger man sitting captivated by the stage. "He really likes scotch and is willing to spend a lot of money on it. Everyone has their poison."

Tig nodded in agreement at the explanation.

"Some nights Bianca walks out of here with more money than I do." Leah commented off handedly. "Men are willing to pay a lot of money to scratch an itch that isn't deemed socially acceptable."

"Yeah, what's the freakiest you've gotten?" Tig asked interestedly.

"I had a guy that wanted to smell my armpits the whole time I danced on him for a lap dance. Paid me a lot extra to lick one. I made over three hundred off him that night." Leah told him while putting her hand on his arm and laughing a bit, keeping up with the charade.

"Armpits?" Tig asked.

"Yep armpits." Leah confirmed.

"What else?" Tig asked.

"I have one regular who will only dance with me if I haven't danced for anyone else. He doesn't like the smell of other men on me. Plus he wants me to act like I don't really know what I'm doing. He has a thing for younger girls, innocent and all." Leah said, "Plus you always have the foot fetishes, men who like a bitch, men who like a bimbo. Everybody has a poison." She shrugged in differently she'd been doing this damn job since she was nineteen. By now she'd seen damn near everything this industry had to offer. Shitty club owners who had weight requirements for dancers, to high-class clubs to little shit holes that were just a front for prostitutes. Frankly she was getting board with it all. Three more years and she could quit this damn job and get a "real job." She'd have her law degree and could do something more with her life.

"Just a means to an end. A fucking means to an end." She told herself when work got shitty.

"Huh, gonna have to talk to Sally." Tig commented.

"Who's Sally?" Leah asked unsure if she really wanted to know.

"Crow eater, she's adventurous." Tig explained. "Armpits?" He asked curiously.

"Huh uh…" Leah trailed off. "It's my turn on stage. I'll stop by later…" She let her sentence trail off into a question.

"Nah doll, do your thing. I want some stories later though." Tig told her.

"Alright, pinky swear." Leah said smiling. Tig still made her nervous, he still seemed more and more on edge to her but he didn't scare her as much now.

~o0o~

"Now listen closely. Your guys hurt two of my men tonight. They're not all too happy about that. But I'm willing to be forgiving about that, just tell me if your bosses have any more plans." Jax said to the three Lobo members tied to the chairs in a warehouse garage. Off to the side Tara did her best to sew up one of the Galindo men with her good hand while Chib's worked on Opie's side where a bullet grazed him.

Jax pulled off the gag of the Lobo man in the middle. "Well what have you got to say?" He asked.

"_Vete a Diablo_." The Lobo said.

"Wrong answer bitch." Jax told him a calm smile on his face. "See my wife over there?" Jax pointed at Tara. "She's a surgeon. She uses lots of sharp pointy things and she borrowed me a few of them. See that man over there?" Jax pointed at Happy. "He likes to use all those sharp pointy things. And now I'm not feeling so forgiving, so I'm going to let him." Jax turned his back to the tied men. "Tara, how's he doing?"

"He'll live. Might scar, these aren't exactly my best stitches." Tara called focused on her work. She put in the final stich as deftly as she could with her one good hand. The hand that had been crushed by the car door was still tightly braced keeping her out of the operating room but she could still help the Sons as needed.

"Good, I want you to go back home. Take care of the boys. I'll be back later." Jax told her.

Tara stood up from where she knelt next to the wounded Galindo man. She hated this. Every minute of it. She hated that she was here patching up a member of the gang that destroyed her and Jax's chance of leaving Charming. She hated that the bastard that tried to have her killed was sipping beers at the clubhouse ever fucking Friday night. She hated that Gemma-one of the people who trapped her in this fucking life- was home with her boys while she watched her fiancé prepare to torture a man. Most of all she hated that she was trapped in this life by her love for the president of an MC and that there was nothing she could do about it. But she knew better than to voice any of that here. Instead she walked up to her Old Man and kissed him.

"Make sure you wash the blood off before you come in." She told him not sparing the Lobo men a glance. Those watching thought she didn't consider them worth her time. Truth was she didn't want to see the men she knew would soon very likely be dead. Tara made it all the way to her car before she started to cry. She allowed her self to cry for a few minutes before roughly wiping the tears away and driving back to her house. She wasted enough tears on her Old Man's life- her life- until SAMCRO was free from the feds and the cartel she had no other choice but to deal. Giving into self-pity now wouldn't help her family. She started her car and drove away. She'd get home, get rid of Gemma and tuck Able and Thomas into bed with her. It worked while Jax was locked up, made her feel less alone. Hopefully it'd work tonight. As she drove home she couldn't help but smile. Despite everything Jax called her his wife.

Jax walked the door close behind his Old Lady. He could see the subtle shifts of her body language. Tara was still pissed that they couldn't get out when they wanted to. But he couldn't leave the club, not now. Not with Clay and Pope and the god fucking cartel. Soon as that shit was clear they could go. Still that was the future. He had shit to clean up now in the present. He turned his attention back to the tied up Lobo.

"Happy now that my wife isn't here anymore why don't you see if our friend here would like to try talking." Jax said turning to Happy.

"Oh yes I will." Happy said walking toward the tray Tara had meticulously set up when she arrived. He ran his hand over the sharp instruments, not only deciding where to start but also to draw out the anticipation for the fucking idiots. He saw all three tied men follow his actions with their eyes. He let his hand pause over a bone saw first before pausing over several hypodermic needles and cauterization probes before selecting a sharp scalpel. He didn't speak to either of the tied men. Jax was there for that.

"Where do you want me to start?" He asked Jax.

"Don't really care just leave their tongues." The president commanded.

"Ok." Happy said. He approached the ungagged man in the middle twirling the scalpel in his hand. He set the scalpel down on the tied mans knee before stripping his kutte away.

"Alright boys, first question. What the fuck is Lobo doing in my back yard?" Jax asked. Happy emphasized the question with a slash to the guy in the middle's bicep.

The Lobo spit in the direction of the Sons even with the blood running down his arm.

"Alright, second question. Who else is working with you?" Jax asked ignoring the glob of saliva next to his right foot. Happy slashed again this time cutting the man's left bicep. The man winced as the scalpel bit into his flesh but he spit a second time.

"I'm going to leave you four alone for awhile. Be back soon." Jax said before turning and leaving. "Maybe you'll want to talk more when I come back."

Several hours later Happy's white tee shirt was splattered with blood from all three men and the smell of cauterized flesh filled the air. All three men were still breathing though, if barely. The middle fucker wasn't even identifiable by his ink anymore with the cuts, bruises and burns covering him. The two on the side fared a bit better. After seeing their compatriot tortured they were more willing to start talking.

"See talking isn't so hard." Jax told them. "In fact you all talked so much I'm inclined to not send you back to your boss with snitch tattooed on your forehead. In fact I may just let my men dump you out side a hospital a few towns away. I'm sure you can all remember that fall you took. Right before your car crash of course." Jax turned to the prospects who'd been called in, "Take out the trash. We'll deal with the rest of this shit tomorrow." Jax glanced up at the garage clock. One a.m. Tara was going to be fucking pissed. Again.

"Hey, Hap!" Jax called out as the Galindo's helped load the Lobos into the back of the van- already lined with plastic. "Want you to swing by Leah's place. Send Tig over, I want to talk to him. Let her know it should be over but we'll keep an eye on her for the week. I'll talk to her more tomorrow. For now just tell her we found the Lobo's in the area and they've been taken care of."

"Want me to stay the night there?" Happy asked.

"Yeah, I'll send Chibs sometime in the morning. Get some sleep tonight though. I might need you tomorrow. We still got this Pope shit to sort out." Jax said rubbing his forehead.

"Alright." Happy said putting the tools he used in water to soak. He'd finish cleaning them tomorrow. Only fucking useful thing Brad every taught him was a clean weapon is a useful weapon. Fucker used to make Happy sit and watch him clean his service piece every week from the time Brad married Happy's mother right to the day Happy beat the shit out of the no good piece of shit. Still Happy now had proper respect for cleaning his gun and knives. Dirty tools were useless in any line of work. Satisfied that the bleach solution would destroy any DNA or biological evidence morning Happy grabbed his still clean kutte and headed to his dorm. He quickly pulled on a clean shirt before heading back out to his bike.

~o0o~

Tara couldn't bring herself to drive straight home. Instead she found herself driving around town in endless circles just thinking. Finally over an hour later she pulled into her drive.

"Hey sorry I'm late." She said quietly to Gemma as she walked into the house. "Renato took a bit longer than I thought to sew up. Hand's still not working great." Tara said by way of an explanation.

"Bullshit." Gemma said walking past Tara out the front door and on to the steps to light up a smoke, "Jax called. Almost an hour ago. Said he'd be late, not to wait up. Also said you were on your way." Gemma slid her gaze over Tara with one eyebrow raised. "Traffic on the way home?"

"Yeah, traffic." Tara said suspiciously. Gemma had done her no favors lately. They currently lived in an uneasy cease-fire. A silent understanding that as long as Tara didn't try to take Jax and the boys away and Gemma didn't try to break their family apart the peace would last.

"Well I got an empty house and a full bottle of Tequila." Gemma started heading to her car. For the first time Tara noticed the slight slump in the former matriarch's shoulders, the fact that her four-inch heels didn't click quite as sharply.

"Hey Gemma," Tara called out, "I got a full bottle here."

Gemma turned back to the girl who was almost her daughter in law. She quirked her mouth to the side and looked Tara up and down. Gemma would never admit it aloud but Tara was the best choice to step up, hell Gemma always wanted her to. Ever since they started getting along again. Just didn't think it would be so damn soon.

"Alright. Got any limes?"

"Nah but I got a couple of straws." Tara smiled.

"That'll work."

~o0o~

"I'm safe?" Leah asked sitting on her couch stunned.

She hadn't made it to two-fifty by midnight so she ended up finishing the night out. She'd gotten home a bit after one, Tig following close behind her. Her last customer had been an ass so she'd gone down to grab her shit bout ten minutes before the one am bar close. She hadn't even bothered to chance, just threw her light jacket over her cloths before heading out the minute the clock flipped from 12:59 to 1am.

When she finally pulled in to her drive she barely took the time to show Tig where to grab a beer before stomping to the shower. Just like every crappy night the hot water seemed to wash away all the bull shit. Leah began to carefully take off her make up with the help of the box of makeup wipes she kept in the shower. She'd just rinsed her hair when she heard the front door open.

"Leah, company!" Tigs voice called out from the living room, "You wanna get out here."

Confused Leah shut off the shower and grabbed her robe off the hook by the shower. Pulling her wet hair off her back she walked into the living room to see Tig and Happy drinking beer on her couch.

"Is everything alright?" She asked worriedly standing in the hall door way.

"Tig, Jax wants to talk to you." Happy said not answering her, "He's still at the clubhouse. I'm staying here tonight."

"Alright. Best go see what the prince wants." Tig said sarcastically. Happy remained quiet. It wasn't cool to disrespect your president like that but Tig had been Clay's man. The former SAA didn't adapt well better to let the comment slide and give him time to figure shit was never going back. Tig slung back the last of his beer before heading out of the house. Leah stood in the hall doorframe silently listening as the sound of a Harley filled the air.

"Is everything alright?" She asked again as Tigs bike faded away.

"Should be. We found the Lobo's that were in town." Happy told her. Leah crossed the room before plopping herself on the couch.

"Does that mean what I think it means?" She asked staring straight ahead.

"We took care of them." Happy confirmed. Jax could give her whatever details he wanted to in the morning. Happy watched her closely waiting for her reaction. The white cotton rope she wore reached down to her knee's and her hair hung in wet ropes around her face- bare of any trace of makeup. Fuck if she didn't look any older than eighteen with her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open slightly in surprise.

"Took care of them?" She asked again not sure if she could believe what she thought she was hearing. She turned to look at Happy and saw him nod his head. "I'm safe?" She whispered stunned.

Happy shrugged. Safety was relative in his mind anyway.

"We'll keep someone with you for the rest of the week to be sure. Jax wants to talk to you tomorrow." He told her. Leah just nodded mutely.

"But I'm safe? My son is safe?" She asked again not able to believe that it could be true.

"Yeah, should be." Happy told her. Leah sat in stunned silence for several minutes. Suddenly she threw herself to the other side of the couch hugging Happy. For his part Happy just sat there unsure of what to do.

"I'm sorry." Leah said straightening herself up, "It's just that I feel like a thousand pounds is off of me." She said by way of explanation tucking a string of hair behind her head. She shot up from the couch and went into the kitchen. She dug around in the top cupboard before grabbing two glasses. Happy watched her reach up, her robe inching up her thighs as she stretched to grab whatever it was from a top shelf. Her legs were still damp from her shower and seemed to shine in the kitchen light. She walked back into the living room carrying a bottle and two glasses.

"I've been saving this for San's birthday but I want to celebrate a bit." She said setting down a bottle of Macallan21 year old Fine Oak Scotch Whiskey on the coffee table. "A customer gave me this, along with a thousand bucks, for doing a private party for him." She explained.

"Must have been some party." Happy said, knowing that a bottle of that cost a bit over two hundred dollars a bottle.

"Rich bastard wanted to make is son's 18th birthday something to remember." Leah explained. "Original price was five hundred for the night but when Uncle Lenny tried to get a bit to handsy I tacked on another five hundred bucks and this bottle- for emotional distress you see." Leah smiled a bit at the memory. Uncle Lenny wanted more than was offered and ended up finding Mia's gun to his head. The state senator tripped over himself to make sure Leah wouldn't press charges or tell the press.

Happy watched her as she poured two glasses of whiskey into each glass where she'd already put three ice cubes. Her robe gapped open slightly at the neckline drawing his eyes straight to her tiny cleavage poking out.

"I got a better way to celebrate." He told her. Leah glanced up at him and saw where his eyes were pointing.

"Really now?" She asked setting the bottle down and picking up her glass filled with exactly three fingers of the amber liquid. "I'm open to any suggestions."

Happy picked up his glass and tossed back the expensive liquor in one swing enjoying the slow burn down his throat and into his stomach. Leah sipped hers more daintily at first before knocking it back quickly. She stood up and began to walk back toward the hall. Reaching the doorframe she glanced back over her shoulder in a way that Happy was beginning to recognize. The right side of her mouth quirked up in half a smile before she let her robe fall off her shoulder and pool at her feet. Happy set his empty glass down and followed her down the hall, he caught her half way and pressed her against the wall.

~o0o~

Jax sat in the clubhouse sipping a beer, waiting for Tig. One thing checked off his never ending to do list. He could understand why his father started writing shit down when shit hit the fan. Jax now found himself doing the same thing. In fact even now as he waited for Tig to show up he scratched away in a spiral notebook he'd found at home.

"You turn more and more into your father every day." Clay said walking into the bar from the dorms.

"At least I'm not turning into you." Jax said looking up at the man.

"Wouldn't be to sure about that." Clay said rubbing his hands. "This life has a way of turning you into what it needs you to be."

"I'm not you. I wont send a brother to be killed like you have. I wont kill an Old Lady like you did." Jax told him sharply.

"Boy by the time this is over you might not have a choice." Clay said quickly before grabbing a beer and heading back to the dorm he now lived in.

~o0o~

Half way through the bottle of tequila Gemma and Tara began to talk like they used to. Before Ireland, before Tara found Marueen Ashby's letters. Before Tara found out that Gemma murdered her first husband.

"Has Jax told you anything about the new gash?" Gemma asked the tequila loosening her up.

"Nothing really. Just that she's a stripper and she saved their asses." Tara said frustrated.

"You gotta find out more about this bitch. Keep her close." Gemma told her. "She's scared and new to this. We don't want her changing her mind about keeping quiet. Better to bring her close."

Tara nodded. Despite the problems between the two women as of late Tara still respected the older woman's knowledge.

"Keep that bitch close." Gemma repeated tossing back more tequila.


	12. Enemies Closer

**a/n so I had this ready a week ago but than I got the ameba, think Sex in the City Two when they go to Mexico and the one chick drinks the water... it's that bad. Anyway that between limited internet access made me forget that I had this done... Sorry about that. Anyway things are moving forward even though this is a bit of a filler chpt. Let me know what you think. Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed this along with the follows and favorites. You guys rock!**

By the time Jax walked through the front door three am was more than long gone. He tried to move as quietly as possible not to wake anyone. He carefully toed out of his shoes to pad in his stocking feet down the entry. He noticed the kitchen light still flickering in the other room with the radio playing softly. He entered the kitchen not looking around to turn off the volume.

"Don't bother, the boys are out cold and your mother is sound asleep in the guest room." Tara's voice sounded from the kitchen table.

"Jesus fuck Tara you scared me." Jax said startling his gun already in his hand. He spun around, his gun still in hand and saw Tara sitting at the table a mostly empty tequila bottle in front of her with two glasses next to it. "The fuck happened in here." He asked.

"Your mom is going to have a hell of a hang over tomorrow." Tara answered not really explaining anything.

"Yeah what about you?" Jax asked.

"After the fifth shot she didn't notice that I was pouring her doubles to my half." Tara answered a small smile playing across her lips. She learned from the best after all. "Your mother can still drink with the best of them though."

Jax didn't bother to comment; there was no chance in hell he was getting between those two if he could do anything to avoid it. He knew shit was tense between his fiancé and his mom right now but he also kept a good head on his shoulders, mostly. Fire and wild horses couldn't get him between the two most important women in his life.

"Thought I told her to tell you not to wait up." He said instead walking over to her.

"She did, I guess I didn't listen." Tara replied angling her head up to receive a kiss. "How did it go?"

"They talked." Jax said pouring himself a shot into one of the empty glasses. He tossed it back wincing a bit as the strong tequila burned its way down before settling in his stomach.

"And?" Tara asked gently probing for more information. She didn't worry about him hiding anything from her anymore, at least not too much.

"And it looks like Lobo thought with the regime change we'd be weak, got the two Mayans to turn and tried to move in. Hopefully with Galindo hitting them on the home front and us hitting them here we set the record straight on that one." Jax explained.

"Good, and the girl?" Tara asked.

"Should be safe. Going to make her a friend of the club. We'll still keep a patch with her for the rest of the week at least." Jax said figuring it was the least they could do dragging her into their shit.

"Tell me about her." Tara said using her tone to disguise the command as a request.

"Don't know her well. Only really talked to her a few times, only once since this shit hit the fan, seems smart though. Juice liked her. Know she's smart actually, criminology degree according to Hap. Has a kid." Jax shrugged, with everything else going on he hadn't spent much time with Leah.

"I want to meet her." Tara said.

"Why?" Jax questioned. Tara couldn't stand the porn pussy that hung around- only started to trust Lyla when the former porn star proved herself while most of the club was in lock up. He didn't think Tara would have much opinion of a stripper.

"She saved your ass when she could have ran. She's probably sacred out of her mind. We should bring her in closer, make sure she doesn't scare off and start talking to the wrong people." Tara parroted Gemma's words back to her fiancé. Despite her current, complicated, feelings for her soon to be mother in law Gemma had a point, the smart thing to do was bring the stripper close.

"Alright, I'll have Happy bring her to the Friday night party. He's been with her the most. I'll talk to her about it tomorrow." Jax said shrugging, this was bitch stuff Tara most likely was right.

"Thank you." Tara said smiling. "Lets go to bed." She stood up before straddling Jax's lap kissing him deeply. Jax smiled before picking her up and caring her back to their bedroom.

Later with Tara's head resting on his chest, her hair falling over his tattoo of Able's name Clay's words ran though his head again.

"This life had its way of turning you into what it needs you to be."

~o0o~

Happy woke up sometime the next morning with another person in his bed. Not fully awake he wondered who the hell stayed in his bed all night. He rolled over to tell whoever it was to get the fuck out before he woke up again. As he rolled over he remembered where he was, and that he wasn't in his own bed he was in Leah's. Even he wasn't so crass as so kick a bitch out of her own bed. Happy decided to make the most of having a mattress and pillow that didn't leave chinks in his neck and rolled back to sleep.

Leah woke up at nine am slowly stretching. Her hand hit another body causing her to jerk sharply to look. Happy lay sprawled and naked on the other half of the bed. Somehow neither of them managed to touch each other after they fell asleep. Not that either minded she thought as she grabbed one of her many oversized tee shirts to pull over her head. Happy didn't seem the type to be particularly cuddly and she'd be lying if she said she found any comfort being close to another person after sex.

Leah glanced again at the sleeping naked man in her bed, studying the tattoos across his back. The colors seemed to flow into each other creating a tapestry of art. Leah liked tattoos, liked the stories that came with them.

"A tattoo's only as good as its story." She whispered to herself as she studied the work in front of her. In her mind if a body wanted to go through the pain of getting ink they better have a damn good reason to do so. She absent-mindedly traced the robin flying up her own hip. She clearly remembered dropping Andrew off with Sandra and driving to the tattoo studio. She'd sat for over an hour with the artist explaining exactly what she wanted and where she wanted it. She'd expected to come back another day for a new appointment to actually get the ink but the artist told her to pull up her shirt and roll down the hippie skirt she'd been wearing and he got right to work. Leah remembered lying on the cushioned table as the artist carefully peeled the paper away from the stencil on her side. She put her hands above her head and gripped the table as the hypnotic sound of the needle started. She jumped the first time the needle bit into her flesh but soon her body grew accustomed to the scratch against her skin. As the artist worked a tear flowed from her eye, the day she tattooed the bird symbolizing new beginnings flying from her hip was the sixth year anniversary of her rape.

As Leah walked into the kitchen she realized how quickly she'd fallen into the new routine. Wake up, make breakfast for however many people happened to be in her house at the time, plan her day out, make lunch, clean, cook dinner. She didn't think her house had ever been as clean as it had been in the last few day's. Still she'd trade her spotless house without her son for a pigsty with him. Still Happy said she should be safe; maybe Andrew could come home soon. God she missed her son. She wanted her boy home with her, safe. She'd talk to Jax today anyway, she could ask about Andrew when she talked to him. Leah pulled out the ingredients for muffins planning on doing omelets and muffins for breakfast. She knew she had some frozen blueberries in the freezer from when Sandra, Mia, Andrew and herself all went blueberry picking last summer. Blueberry chocolate chip muffins sounded like a great breakfast. Leah decided to do the large recipe for twenty-four muffins. Any that didn't get eaten in the next day or so could easily be frozen and taken to work as a snack.

The second time Happy woke up in the morning he noticed he was alone in the bed. He grabbed his phone off the nightstand flipping it open to check the time and see if the club called. It was only nine am and so far no calls from the prez. Happy ran his hand down his face, rubbing the last bit of sleep from his eyes before climbing out of bed to find his boxers and jeans. He found them in a crumpled heap at the end of the bed. Pulling them on he walked into the bedroom to take a morning piss and rinse out his mouth. He glanced at the shower before deciding the smell from the kitchen was a higher priority.

"Stupid girls, stupid girls, stupid girl. Maybe if I act like that, that boy will call me back, up on my high scene world I don't want to be a stupid girl." Leah sang under her breath to the music coming from her Ipod as she took the muffin tray out of the oven. "Whatever happened to the girl president, she's dancing in the movie next to 50 cent…"

"The fuck is that noise?" Happy asked walking in.

"Holy fucking shit on toast you scared me." Leah exclaimed looking up at him startled. Happy raised an eyebrow instead of repeating his question. "It's Pink." Leah answered him, "I felt like some girl power music." She explained.

"The fuck?" Happy asked.

"Well I didn't expect you to scare the shit out of me. I thought you'd shower first or make some sort of noise." Leah said as she crossed the room to switch the music.

_Rickey was a young boy_

_He had a heart of stone_

_Walked the street for money_

_And worked his fingers to the bone_

"Skidrow better?" Leah asked looking up at Happy, her hand still hovering over the Ipod.

"Yeah." Happy said.

"Ok, I'll leave it on my work playlist." Leah said walking back across the kitchen to the fridge to pull out the omelet supplies.

"What the fuck is your work playlist?" Happy asked as he settled himself at the counter.

"Songs I usually dance to at work. I like to play them while I do house work or cook sometimes. Lets me think of routines for them so I have an idea what I'm going to do when I get on stage." Leah answered cracking several eggs into the bowl the already cut veggies and ham next to the bowl. "Anyone else coming for breakfast?" She asked.

"Don't think so." At that moment Happy's prepaid began to go off in his pocket.

"Yeah?" he asked answering.

"Hap, its Jax."

"What's up prez?" Happy asked.

"I'm on my way over to talk to Leah. I'll be there in twenty, thought I should let you guys know." Jax told his enforcer.

"Alright I'll tell her." Happy said waiting to see if Jax had anything more to say to him.

"A'ight thanks brother." The president said before hanging up.

"Jax is on his way, twenty minutes he said." Happy told Leah. She glanced up from the bowl in front of her on the counter.

"Ok, I'm going to clean up quick. I'll finish breakfast when I'm ready." Leah walked back into her bedroom. No time to shower she thought before grabbing a pair of light colored jeans and a fitted black top. She pulled her hair into her usual braid, letting it drape over her left shoulder before brushing some light makeup on. She quickly slipped into a comfortable pair of black boots with a slight heel before heading back out to the kitchen not even fifteen minutes later. She confidently strode into the kitchen as Smooth Criminal started playing from her Ipod. She smiled at hearing one of her favorite songs while she started to cook breakfast again, this time adding a few more eggs to accommodate a third person. She quickly poured a glass of orange juice before setting it along with a mug of coffee in front of Happy.

Happy sipped the juice Leah gave him while watching her closely. The agitated fear of the first night disappeared along with the brittle stress of the day before. The bitch seemed to adjust quickly. Happy'd be lying if he said he wasn't a bit impressed. He couldn't help but hope for her sake this shit show was over. Bitch didn't deserve that in her life. Still if people always got what they deserved he himself wasn't exactly in for a happy ending. Bad shit happened to good people, look at the ass hole Brad his mother had ended up with.

Leah just poured the first omelet into the pan when a knock on her door came. She glanced up to see Happy rise to answer it. She noticed that he had yet to put a shirt on. Well if he didn't care if other club members knew they were sleeping together she didn't either.

Happy opened the door to let the Jax in the door holding his gun. President might have given him the heads up but that still wasn't a reason to be ready, just in case. If the last few years taught the club anything it was shit can hit the fan at a moments notice.

"Morning brother." Jax said, "How's shit here?"

"Quiet." Happy responded.

"Good. Last thing we need is more noise, we got enough of that shit." Jax commented stepping in the doorway. "Where is she?"

"In the kitchen. Making omelet's." Happy answered. The two brothers walked to the kitchen. Leah already set a second glass of juice and a second mug of coffee on the counter next to Happy's chair.

"Good morning." She said forcing her voice to stay light and pleasant. Jax would tell her soon enough, sooner if she didn't ask a thousand questions.

"Morning. Smells good." Jax commented.

"Thank you, hopefully it tastes good. Muffins will be cooled in a second and I'll have the first omelet done soon." Leah said. "Do you want cream, milk, sugar for your coffee?" She asked.

"Nah, blacks good, thanks doll." Jax answered taking a long sip from the warm mug. He'd been up until damn close to dawn thinking about the shit hole the club was in now with his stepfather's words playing over in his head. The three adults sat in silence as Papa Roach started to play. With in ten minutes Leah served a muffin and an omelet to each of the men and herself.

"Hap told you what went down last night?" Jax asked before taking his first bite.

"He said it was taken care of." Leah answered hesitantly wondering- not for the first time- if it was to good to be true.

"He's right." Jax told her, "This is great by the way."

"Thank you." Leah said automatically accepting the compliment. "Wait, does that mean I'm safe?" She asked.

"Think so. We'll keep a man with you for the rest of the week. Just to be sure." Jax told her, "You're a friend of the club now. You need help with anything you come to us. We take care of our own."

"Can Andrew come home?" Leah asked holding her breath. The friend of the club thing barely caught her attention in her eagerness to know if she could see her son.

"Yeah, he can." Jax told her understanding what it was like to be forcefully separated from a child. At least she knew where hers was, he couldn't help but think.

"Thank you." Leah breathed a sigh of relief, "thank you so much. Can I call Mia now? If they leave soon they can be here in a few hours." She couldn't help the smile that quickly took over her face. Her baby was coming home.

"Hold off on that. Remember Alvarez?" Jax asked.

"Yeah, the Mayan President." Leah said hesitantly.

"He wants a sit down with you. ASAP. Might want to do that before your kid gets back. A couple of Son's will go with you." Jax told her.

"Why does he want to talk to me?"

"Son lives aren't the only lives you saved doll." Jax pointed out. "Plus you exposed two traitors in his club."

"Ok." Leah said nervously picking at her food, "Where does he want to meet."

"Didn't say." Jax shrugged, "Left that up to you."

"I don't know where to meet a biker president." Leah said with out thinking.

"You're meeting one in your kitchen right now." Happy pointed out speaking for the first time.

"I don't want anyone else knowing where I live." Leah stated calmly.

"You can meet at the club house. In the bar if you want." Jax offered.

"Would that be alright?" Leah asked.

"Yeah, noon today?" Even though it was phrased as a question his tone left no room for doubt that it was a statement instead.

"That sounds perfect." Leah answered not really caring what time the meeting took place just knowing she wanted it over as soon as possible. Sooner she talked to Alvarez the sooner Andrew could come home.

"Alright I'll set it up. Thanks for the breakfast." Jax told her standing to leave. "By the way, we're having a party Friday night, you should come." Again his tone led her to believe his statement was less of a request and more of an order.

"I'll see if my babysitter is free." Leah said diplomatically.

"A'ight. See you at noon." Jax told her. Happy stood to walk with Jax to the door to see if his president had anymore orders for him.

"Hap, I want you to stay with her until noon, bring her to the club house, Chibs will take over after that."

"No problem Jax." Happy assured his brother. Jax glanced down at Happy's naked chest quickly.

"Didn't think it would be." He said with a hint of a smirk. From the kitchen both men could hear Leah on the phone.

"Mia…" She said, "it's over…. Yeah really…. Yep Andrew can come home."

**a/n the Brad mentioned is a tie in with my one shot Stronger. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!**


	13. At the End of the Day

**A/n So major computer issues combined with normal tech issues involved with living in a third world country have made this chapter very very hard to write much less post. That being said I hope this is worth the wait.**

Happy watched Leah move around her kitchen, something that seemed to becoming a habit of his. He liked watching her though. She hid most of her feelings behind a smile but you'd see a flash of them. When she talked to her son she turned into a goddamn open book. Right now for the first time since he met her she seemed relaxed. _Bad Girlfriend_ by Theory of a Dead Man began to play from the Ipod. Leah watched as cleaned the kitchen and sang along to the music. Happy watched as she began to dance to the music moving her hips as if she was on stage.

The song changed over to another mid-paced strong rock song and Leah began to get into the music. Her son was coming home, she was safe and things would get back to normal. As Shinedown blasted from her Ipod she began to dance to the familiar song.

_Yeah I get it you're an outcast _

_always under attack_

_always coming in last _

_bringing up the back _

_no one owes you anything _

_I think you need a shotgun blast _

_a kick in the ass so _

_paranoid watch your back_

When the music reached a slow song Leah began to move her hips accordingly. She turned around to put last night's dishes in the cupboard. Her eyes meant Happy's intense gaze.

"You always clean like this?" He drawled.

"When my life isn't threatened, yes." Leah responded with a smile, "It's a great way to practice new routines."

"Kid must love that." Happy commented.

"Ha!" Leah laughed happily, "Have you ever tried to clean with a six year old in the house? I clean while he's at his play group and basketball."

"Basketball?" Happy asked even though he could care less as he eyed the girls hips incased in jeans.

"Yeah kids community program thought Charming." Leah answered off hand. She met Happy's eyes and continued to dance as the song switched over. She smiled an invitation before continuing to clean. Happy wasted no time in crossing the kitchen and grabbing her hips before pulling her sharply back against his own hips.

"Kid's not here now." Happy said as he spun her around still holding her hips. Leah placed her hands behind her on the counter and boosted herself up.

"Nope, he's not." Leah said. "But he will be later and I should behave then." She smiled, the first truly real smile Happy'd seen from her, without worry or fear.

Between the two of them it took very little time to get her jeans off and him out of his pants. She stroaked him confidently as his hands warmed her up by circling her clit.

"Condom!" Leah gasped out as he brought her damn close with just his hands.

"Wallet." Happy said as she caressed him long and hard.

"Fuck! How many do you have in there?" Leah asked.

"Bout as many as you have in that thing by your bed." Happy answered as she fumbled to reach into his pants pockets. Leah managed to extract his wallet and soon had the condom out and opened. She carefully rolled the thin barrier over his dick before hooking her legs behind his back and pulling him closer. Soon she barely rested on the edge of the counter. She dug her nails into his clothed shoulder for balance. His hands gripped her hips tightly where she still had a faint bruise from their first go round together.

Happy could tell when she got closer. Her hands tightened on his shoulders. He pulled her even closer, almost all the way off the counter. One of her hands left his shoulders and wrapped around his neck. She began to rake her nails at the back of his neck, which for some inexplicable reason felt incredibly sexy. He took one of his hands and forced it between the two of them to begin circling her clit. She came with a gasp and a scream. He continued to pound into her and followed soon after- her inner muscles still quivering around him. For a minute both remained still breathing heavily.

Leah straightened up and leaned back on her hands still breathing hard. Happy slid out of her and swore loudly.

"Fuck, the goddamn condom broke."

Leah blinked a few times.

"You clean?" She asked.

"Yeah." He replied. He went in every six months to get tested. He did not want that shit on top of everything else.

"Good me to and I can't get knocked up." Leah answered shrugging.

"Can't get knocked up?" Happy asked.

"Got an IUD after Andrew was born. Decided that I never wanted to find myself pregnant with out it being my choice." Leah said.

"The fuck is an IUD?" Happy asked.

"Inter-uterine-device. They shove this T-shaped thing up my cervix and voila, I can't get pregnant for five years." Leah explained easing herself off of the counter testing her legs gingerly. "Like I said didn't want to take chances with another kid."

Happy nodded his understanding while he disposed of the used condom. Leah looked at her pants and panties on the flood debating whether or not to put them back on. Deciding that it would be useless she left them where they lay.

"I'm off to shower." She said, "Feel free to join me."

Leah honestly loved her shower. That may sound silly for some but ever since her rape the shower became her only refuge. The only place she could go be alone and cry without anyone seeing it. When it became obvious she was pregnant that fact held stronger. Her parents had constantly berated her for "lying" about the father. That or kept telling her she should "get rid of it" or if she had to have it give it up for adoption. She'd gone to each one of her prenatal appointments by herself and came home, showered and cried after each one. It took of a year of seeing her shrink before Leah told her parents where she was. Andrew was three by the time she let them visit. When she moved to Charming Leah looked at several houses. The master bathroom of this one sold her. An old claw foot tub sat against one wall the toilet next to it. The large shower, big enough for three it seemed, took up the opposite wall. An old fashioned sink sat in the middle. The only downside was no counter space but Leah made do with the shelf above the sink and below the mirror.

Leah just shampooed and conditioned her hair when a cold draft hit her back. She turned to see a naked Happy climbing in the shower with her.

"Glad you could make it." She said smiling. She pulled her wet hair off her back and turned so she faced away from him. "Soap me please." She requested. With her free hand she offered a scrubby already filled with soap. "I'll return the favor."

Happy took the scrubby away from her and began to soap up her back. He found he liked the way her skin shuddered slightly under the fibers. He wrapped one hand around her waist and ran the suds over her breasts and stomach also. After a few minutes of revealing in the sensation Leah forced herself to push his hands away.

"My turn." She said turning around.

"You ain't putting that girly shit on me." Happy told her bluntly.

"You're right. I'm not." Leah agreed. She reached above her shoulder to put the scrubby into the spray rinsing it off. She grabbed a washcloth in the shower and began to suds in up with Irish Spring soap. "I'm putting this on you."

"Thought you didn't have men over." Happy said as she began to rub the soft washcloth over him.

"I don't, but I do have a six year old son who doesn't want to smell like a girl. Now please stop talking." Leah began by washing his shoulders and chest slowly moving down. She rubbed the washcloth across his lower abdomen before getting on her knees in the shower and taking him partially in her mouth. Happy let his head roll back at the feel of her mouth sliding up and down him, combining with the hot water of the shower. He laced his fingers in her hair urging her to take him deeper.

Leah braced her hands on his thighs and pushed him away.

"The fuck?" Happy asked at the sudden change.

"I can't do this with your hands in my hair or near my head. Shoulders are fine but never the head." Leah explained for a moment looking almost embarrassed. Happy quirked an eyebrow at her, silently asking for an explanation.

"Just how I am." Leah answered the unasked question shrugging.

"Anything else I should know before you get your mouth back on my dick?" Happy asked.

"I can't be trapped. No bondage and no being pinned down." Leah said. Happy nodded his understanding before looking pointedly down at his dick. Leah smiled and began to suck him off again. She was thankful he didn't ask any questions. She didn't want to explain anything. They were just fucking, he didn't need to know that even close to seven years after her rape she still struggled with some things.

For his part Happy stayed focused on what her mouth was doing to his dick. In the back of his mind though he filed away her restrictions on sex to think about later. After she sucked him off they got out of the shower. Happy moved to bring her toward the bed and return the favor by getting her off quick. When it came to croweaters he didn't give a damn if they got theirs or not. Sometimes they did sometimes not. With other women though he felt it to be a point of pride to make sure they got it to. Remembering what she said about being held down he rested his hands on either side of her hips and dove his face between her legs. Her clit was still swollen and sensitive from their quick fuck on the counter it didn't take long until she was writhing beneath his mouth.

"What fucking time is it?" Leah asked laying on the bed panting when she began to catch her breath.

Happy looked over to the clock on the bedside table.

"It's almost eleven." He said.

"Fuck, I have to get ready." Leah said. She stood up still naked and began to look around for her brush. She noticed the jeans and shirt she left strewn on the kitchen floor now sat folded neatly on the chair along with her bra and panties. Sitting on top of her cloths were Happy's, folded with equal care. Now it was her turn to raise an eye brow in a silent question.

"Don't like mess." Happy answered as he reached for his own boxers and pants. Leah shrugged before grabbing her robe and going into the bathroom. She finally found her brush on the counter and began to pull it through the tangled knots of her hair. She than started a French braid at the on the right side of her head braiding the hair so it fell into a long rope over her left shoulder. Once her hair was out of her way she began to put on a light layer of makeup. Satisfied she walked into her closet to find something to wear all the while aware Happy hadn't moved from her bed. She felt a slight thrill that he followed her with his eyes. She'd be lying if she said she hadn't watched him from her mirror as he dressed. By eleven twenty she felt as ready as she'd ever be to meet another biker president.

"Can we leave a bit early?" She asked Happy. Happy shrugged, he didn't give a fuck what time they left as long as they got there on time. "Ok, in that case I'm ready."

"Lets go." Happy said walking to the door. Leah followed him grabbing her keys from the dish by the door. After locking up she began to walk to her little compact car.

"No." Happy said, "Jax told me to have you ride with me."

"Why?" Leah asked confused as to how that would matter, whether she went in her car or on his bike.

"He wants to remind folks you're under Sons protection." Happy explained.

"Great, that's going to help my standing with the PTA." Leah said sarcastically taking the offered helmet. Happy cracked a smile understanding that her sarcasm came from the irony of it all.

"PTA is overrated." He answered.

"Says you. I bet you skipped more class than you attended." Leah teased. Happy gave his customary shrug instead of answering. Leah clipped the helmet into place.

"Anything I should know before we do this?" She asked looking at the bike uneasily.

"You already did this once." Happy pointed out.

"Yeah but that time I was shit terrified that someone would follow us and kill me before I got Andrew out with Mia. Now I'm just kinda nervous." Leah countered.

"Same as before, hang on, lean with turns. Don't fall off." Happy said cracking a second smile as he swung his leg over the bike.

"I'll try to remember the last one." Leah said before carefully climbing behind him.

"Just like riding a horse." She assured herself placing her arms around his waist.

"Not so tight girl, I have to breathe."

"Oh, sorry."

Once her hands were loosened Happy fired up the bike before pulling out of the driveway. Leah managed to find the courage to raise a hand to Sandra as they passed before clutching tightly to Happy again. Leah couldn't help but be selfconcious as they passed people on the street. What if they recognized her? She'd only been in Charming for less than a year but she still had known the Sons reputation. Now she knew it was well deserved. She couldn't help but notice they passed several of the mothers of the other kids in Andrew's class. She couldn't tell if she was merely paranoid of if some of them turned to look right at her. Inwardly she sighed, it was already hard enough for her to play the politics of parents being a young mother still in school. Add stripping and now the Sons of Anarchy club she'd have to volunteer for every shity job in every school activity and field trip to get Andrew invited anywhere. Few of the mothers wouldn't care, most however wouldn't want their children hanging out with "that kind of family". Most of those women had husbands who came into the club.

Happy pulled into Teller Morrow and carefully pulled his bike into the row that already lined the clubhouse. He'd felt Leah tense up behind them as they rode through town but figured it was nothing more than her being nervous about the bike. He led her into the clubhouse full of Sons. Bobby sat at the bar talking with Jax in hushed turns. Juice sat at his computer toiling away at a table while Tig and Chibs shot pool. Ratface and Filthy Phil played cards while Clay drank alone off to the side.

Leah paused in the doorway feeling like she was about to climb on stage again for the first time. Still she managed to force her shoulders to square and plaster on a smile. One of the several benefits of being a stripper was the ability to craft perfect façade to hide behind. Jax waved them over to the bar.

"When Alvarez comes he's going to want to speak to you alone. I'm having at least one Son with you." Jax told her.

"Why?" Leah asked, "I think he understands I'm under your watch."

"Just a precaution doll. I want Happy there for sure however, I'll probably send Chibs along with you also."

"Not yourself though?" Leah asked curiously.

"Nah, politics." Jax said instead of explaining.

"I see." Leah replied thinking it over.

"Do you want a drink while you wait?" Bobby asked looking curiously at the stripper who saved their collective asses.

"Is there any coffee?" Leah asked.

"Yep, brewed it myself." The VP said.

"I could use a cup." Leah said.

"Al!" Bobby called down the bar, "coffee now!" The prospect jumped at the loud yell before quickly fixing a coffee.

'Thank you." Leah said when Al set the steaming cup in front of her. He nodded slightly and went back to fixing the bar sink. Leah silently sipped her black coffee while waiting for Alvarez to arrive.

Noon on the dot brought the sound of bikes pulling into the lot. Even though it was only a Tuesday the garage remained closed.

"Doesn't sound like he brought many people." Bobby commented to Jax.

"He wants to show he trusts us. I bet he has at least a handful of extra men around the out skirts of town. Just in case." Jax answered watching the door.

"You a mind reader now Prez?" Bobby asked.

"Nah, just what I'd do." Jax said. A knock sounded on the door and Jax motioned for the prospect to go answer it. Alvarez and his VP Rafael entered the clubhouse and looked around before going up to Jax, Bobby, Happy and Leah.

"Jax." Alvarez said in way of a greeting.

"Alvarez." Jax replied evenly.

"Senorita que alegre a verse aqui." The Mayan president said to Leah.

"Buenos tardes senor. El gusto es mio." Leah replied in calm Spanish.

"Ud. se habla bien espanol." Alvarez complimented her.

"You give me to much credit. I understand much more than I speak." Leah said switching to English. She refused to have this discussion on uneven grounds.

"Is there a more private place we can speak?" Alvarez asked Jax.

"You'll have that back table." Jax said gesturing to a table parked in the corner, "Happy and Chibs both stay with her." Alvarez nodded his acceptance and held his hand out inviting Leah to go first.

"So you wanted to speak to me?" Leah said as she settled into her chair. Chibs and Happy sat on either side of her while Rafael sat next to Alvarez.

"I did," Alvarez stated, "We wanted to say thank you. You exposed two traitors in my club."

"I hope they were the only ones." Leah said unsure of what to say.

"It seems to be so." Alvarez said. He nodded to Rafael who slid an envelope across the table to Leah. Silently she picked it up and opened the flap. A think neat stack of hundreds sat between the white paper sides.

"A token of our thanks." Alvarez said.

"Thank you but that's unessacary." Leah said firmly, "I'd rather not be in your debt in any way."

"Than consider it an advanced payment." Alvarez said.

"For?" Leah asked.

"A private party, Saturday night. A Mayan party. If what's in the envelope isn't enough you only name the price." Alvarez told her, "We want to show our appreciation, and tell everyone you are a friend of the Mayans."

"I'll see if my babysitter is free." Leah gave Alvarez the same diplomatic answer she gave Jax.

"Have Jax call me when you find out." Alvarez standing.

"I will." Leah said standing also. She tried to hand him the envelope back but he shook his head. Seeing she had no way to give it back Leah tucked the cash into her purse.

"You need anything you give us a call." Alvarez said. "Jax will give you my number."

"Thank you." Leah answered.

"We'll be in touch about Saturday night." With that in place of good byes Alvarez and Rafael walked away from her. Leah slowly gathered her wits while Alvarez and Jax exchanged their own farewells.

"I think that went well." She said to Chibs and Happy.

"As well as anything love." Chibs replied. "Jax is waving ya."

Leah walked back over to where Jax sat at the bar.

"Chibs will take you home. He'll be there most of the day. You talk to your kid?" He asked.

"Yeah, Andrew's on his way home. Should be here by three." Leah said smiling at the thought of hugging her son.

"I'm glad he's coming back." Jax said thinking again of the time he almost lost Able.

"You're not the only one." Leah mentioned. "Is it alright if I head home now? I want to get a few things ready for him."

"Of course darling." Jax said.

"Oh and Leah," He called as she reached the door, "I'm sure your babysitter can be free Friday night. If not my mom can take care of your kid while she watches mine."

Leah nodded back to him before walking outside into the bright midday sun.

**a/n2 So tiny confession... My dancers name is Delilah. Now I have a reason for using this name in this story, you'll see later. Aside from that. I confess this because I started a blog under my dance name about being a stripper, only two posts so far but there will be a third tomorrow. If you're interested you can read it at not the only story . wordpress. com just take out all the spaces.**


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